04-19-2005, 01:55 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>A grave threat</b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
18th Apr 2005
It is hardly surprising that the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh featured prominently at the conference of Chief Ministers on internal security last Friday. As many as seven Chief Ministers- those of West Bengal, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Maharashtra-urged upon the Centre to take strong steps to curb the influx which posed a grave threat to national security.
That none of them belonged to the BJP, which first brought the issue of illegal influx to the forefront of the national security discourse, is significant. It firmly underlined the fact that the matter is one of national and not partisan concern. The scale of the influx and the size of the population of illegal migrants in India, which, according to <b>various Government reports, varies between 12 and 15 million, are alarming.</b> More, it has caused significant demographic changes in some of the States, particularly in their border districts.<b> In 2001, Muslims accounted for 30.9 per cent of Assam's population against 28.43 per cent in 1991</b>.
Between the same two years, the <b>West Bengal's Muslim population increased form 23.61 per cent to 25.24 per cent </b>of the total. Of <b>Assam's 27 districts, Muslims are in a majority in six-all along the Bangladesh border.</b> In sharp contrast, the rise in Muslim population in the interior districts has been markedly less, which clearly indicates that the composition of border district populations is a result of virtually unchecked increase in the influx from Bangladesh.
What gives this influx <b>a sinister dimension is the ISI venture, code-named Operation Pin Code, to carve out, in collusion with Bangladesh</b>, an independent Islamistan out of India's Northeast by accelerating the influx of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants into Assam's lower districts. The first step in frustrating the ISI design is, therefore, stanching the influx into Assam and the northern districts of West Bengal, which constitute the rest of the country's gateway to the Northeast.
Unfortunately the Centre, which is ultimately responsible for protecting the country's borders, is guilty of gross dereliction of duty in this respect. Nothing underlines this more sharply than its decision on October 27 last year, not to repeal the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act of 1983, which has turned out to be the single biggest hurdle in the way of the identification and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. It doubtless applies only to Assam. But the latter has the largest population of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants among all States-an estimated 50 lakh. Besides, as Nagaland's Chief Minister, Mr Neiphiu Rio stated at the conference, <b>"Assam has almost become a breeding ground for illegal migrants as they are procuring documents like ration cards there and then coming into the hills."</b>
Assam's Chief Minister <b>Tarun Gogoi has publicly claimed that it was the State Government that had persuaded the Centre not to repeal the IMDT Act</b>. And it does not take exceptional intelligence to recognise that this in turn was the result of <b>his party's vote-bank politics</b>. One hopes that the demand by the seven Chief Ministers would make the Centre see the sinister implications of its decision and also the need to deal firmly with the problem of illegal migration.
It must also speed up the construction of border fences. The report in last Thursday's Bangladeshi newspapers that it had agreed not to construct barbed wire fences within 150 yards of the border on the Indian side, is disturbing. The Centre would do well to clarify the position immediately.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Pioneer Edit Desk
18th Apr 2005
It is hardly surprising that the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh featured prominently at the conference of Chief Ministers on internal security last Friday. As many as seven Chief Ministers- those of West Bengal, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Maharashtra-urged upon the Centre to take strong steps to curb the influx which posed a grave threat to national security.
That none of them belonged to the BJP, which first brought the issue of illegal influx to the forefront of the national security discourse, is significant. It firmly underlined the fact that the matter is one of national and not partisan concern. The scale of the influx and the size of the population of illegal migrants in India, which, according to <b>various Government reports, varies between 12 and 15 million, are alarming.</b> More, it has caused significant demographic changes in some of the States, particularly in their border districts.<b> In 2001, Muslims accounted for 30.9 per cent of Assam's population against 28.43 per cent in 1991</b>.
Between the same two years, the <b>West Bengal's Muslim population increased form 23.61 per cent to 25.24 per cent </b>of the total. Of <b>Assam's 27 districts, Muslims are in a majority in six-all along the Bangladesh border.</b> In sharp contrast, the rise in Muslim population in the interior districts has been markedly less, which clearly indicates that the composition of border district populations is a result of virtually unchecked increase in the influx from Bangladesh.
What gives this influx <b>a sinister dimension is the ISI venture, code-named Operation Pin Code, to carve out, in collusion with Bangladesh</b>, an independent Islamistan out of India's Northeast by accelerating the influx of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants into Assam's lower districts. The first step in frustrating the ISI design is, therefore, stanching the influx into Assam and the northern districts of West Bengal, which constitute the rest of the country's gateway to the Northeast.
Unfortunately the Centre, which is ultimately responsible for protecting the country's borders, is guilty of gross dereliction of duty in this respect. Nothing underlines this more sharply than its decision on October 27 last year, not to repeal the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act of 1983, which has turned out to be the single biggest hurdle in the way of the identification and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. It doubtless applies only to Assam. But the latter has the largest population of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants among all States-an estimated 50 lakh. Besides, as Nagaland's Chief Minister, Mr Neiphiu Rio stated at the conference, <b>"Assam has almost become a breeding ground for illegal migrants as they are procuring documents like ration cards there and then coming into the hills."</b>
Assam's Chief Minister <b>Tarun Gogoi has publicly claimed that it was the State Government that had persuaded the Centre not to repeal the IMDT Act</b>. And it does not take exceptional intelligence to recognise that this in turn was the result of <b>his party's vote-bank politics</b>. One hopes that the demand by the seven Chief Ministers would make the Centre see the sinister implications of its decision and also the need to deal firmly with the problem of illegal migration.
It must also speed up the construction of border fences. The report in last Thursday's Bangladeshi newspapers that it had agreed not to construct barbed wire fences within 150 yards of the border on the Indian side, is disturbing. The Centre would do well to clarify the position immediately.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->