Assam Steps Up Crackdown on Illegal Immigration: 5 Bangladeshi Nationals Apprehended at Border

GUWAHATI: Assam Police arrested five Bangladeshi nationals while trying to infiltrate the state in a pre-dawn operation. One group, Mastabis Rahman, Asma Bibi, Abani Saddar, Lima Saddar, and Sumaya Akhtar, was detained and pushed back at 1:00 AM today. This is in continuation of an intensified effort to safeguard the borders of Assam from infiltration.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has been firm on border security, and several times in the past, he had promised a solution to the problem of illegal immigration. During a news conference earlier this month, he mentioned ongoing efforts:.

Following the NRC update, the detection of foreigners had almost come to a standstill. But over the last few months, we have been able to catch or repel 20 to 30 people from Bangladesh. We are now implementing a far more serious system to detect illegal immigrants," Sarma said.

These are not the first remarks by the Chief Minister. On September 7, he declared a host of intensive measures to seal the borders. Sarma said that the state government will come up with fresh guidelines within the next 10 days, according to which a person has to be included in the NRC to be eligible for an Aadhaar card. This move, reportedly, is an attempt to weed out fake issuance of Aadhaar, suspected by the government to be carried out on a wide scale and, in particular, in districts such as Dhubri, where the number of Aadhaar cards reportedly is in excess of population count.

Sarma said this fact raised an alarm over the fact that so many discrepancies indicate the widespread misuse of the Aadhaar system. This latest order would come into effect from October 1, which will cover adults, excluding the tea garden areas of Assam. Identification would be made smoother, with the government ensuring that security is strengthened along the borders of the state.

With the state's crackdown continuing, Sarma has asked the local authorities to double the drive to trace out illegal immigrants so that Assam remains guarded about its territorial integrity.

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