The North East Students’ Organization (NESO) has demanded the Centre to ensure that not a single Bangladeshi should be granted asylum or rehabilitate in the North East region.
In a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, NESO chairman Samuel B Jyrwa said, “Therefore Sir, the NESO humbly seeks your immediate intervention to ensure that no illegal enters the North Eastern states from Bangladesh and also requested that not even a single Bangladeshi should be granted asylum or rehabilitate in the entire North East region. At this juncture, it is also imperative for the Government of India to ensure that the border between North East India and Bangladesh should be thoroughly and strictly manned so as to detect attempted illegal migration from across the border.”
Jyrwa said that the civil war like situation that is currently taking place in neighbouring Bangladesh can have serious ramifications in India especially in the North East Region whereby four states share a common international boundary with Bangladesh.
Tripura share a boundary of 856 kilometers with Bangladesh, Meghalaya shares a 443 km long boundary, Mizoram shares 318 km long boundary and Assam has a common boundary of 262 km with Bangladesh.
“The ongoing crisis in Bangladesh will and may lead to an exodus of its nationals into our country especially in the North East region,” he said while adding that past events indicates that whenever there is a civil war or a riot in Bangladesh, the North East region always had to bear the brunt of mass illegal immigration from the country.
During partition in 1947, lakhs of Bengalis from East Pakistan illegally crossed the border and forcibly occupied lands in Assam and Tripura (then a Union Territory).
Similarly in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, again lakhs and lakhs of East Pakistanis, migrated into India territory including North East India creating a demographic imbalance especially in the states of Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya (then a part of the composite state of Assam).
“This unabated flow of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh (East Pakistan) brings forth an air of tension and stiff competition in the North East,” Jyrwa said.
Stating that the NE region is home to a plethora of indigenous communities which are microscopic in numbers and lives amongst their own communities in traditionally marked territories, the NESO chief said that the arrival of millions of illegal foreigners from other countries led to a contestation of space, forced cultural assimilation, economic competition and distrust between the indigenous populace and the foreigners. These illegal foreigners settled in the lands of the indigenous communities without the consent of the community leaders and thus creates a sense of animosity between the two groups.
He said that the illegal settlement of these millions of foreigners led to a drastic alteration of the demographic structure in most regions of the seven North Eastern states. Owing the small populations of indigenous communities, the illegal foreigners overwhelmed the minuscule indigenous populace overnight.
Land grabbing became the order of the day and the traditional way of life of the natives is being out rightly disregarded by these migrant foreigners whose ulterior motive is to forcibly carved a new homeland in the region at the cost of the dignity of the indigenous populace.
Further, he said that Tripura, under the onslaught of mass migration since 1947 saw a dramatic rise of Bangladeshi populations leading to the native tribal population being reduced to a mere 30% in their own homeland and state. This even led to the snatching of political power by these immigrants and the native tribals have become second-class citizens.
“The tribal citizens of Tripura have to face discrimination, violence and marginalization on a daily basis. It is worth noted that Assam has and is still experiencing mass influx of illegal migrants which led to a six year long Assam Movement, causing martyrdom to 860 lives which eventually led to the signing of the historic Assam Accord which promised to deport illegal Bangladeshis from Assam,” he said.
Similarly, Jyrwa said that Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh witnessed mass movements in the past and till date demanding the immediate deportation of all foreigners from their states after migrants overwhelmed the indigenous communities in many pockets of their respected states.
“Such unabated flow of immigrants into the region thus led to insecurity, agitations, riots and clashes between these foreigners and the indigenous people,” he added further.
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