Only nine declared foreigners deported since 2013, Six of nine were Muslims, and three were Hindus

GUWAHATI: Believe it or not, only nine declared foreigners have been deported from the state since 2013. Six of the nine were Muslims, and three were Hindus. Statistics from the Assam Police (Border) have revealed this. This cuts a sorry figure.

The Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) in the State detect two types of foreigners: declared foreigners and convicted foreigners. The declared foreigners are foreigners who enter Assam illegally from other countries without any valid documents and get caught. Declared foreigners are the cause of concern for Assam, where an anti-foreigner movement had to continue for six years, leading to the martyrdom of around 860.

The convicted foreigners are the ones who enter Assam legally but overstay for various reasons and get caught. Since the government has data on such foreigners overstaying in Assam, it is not that difficult to find them out. However, foreigners entering the state illegally often give border police the slip.

In 2013, India and Bangladesh reached an understanding according to which, if India declares a Bangladeshi citizen an illegal foreigner, the state concerned will have to communicate with Bangladesh through the Union Ministry of External Affairs with the foreigners’ names, addresses, and other details. Only after the Bangladesh Government confirms the persons as Bangladeshi citizens can the Border Police hand over the foreigners to the Bangladesh Border Guard through the BSF (Border Security Force).

Before 2013, the Border Police had to push the declared foreigners back to Bangladesh.

Now the problem is that in most cases, the confirmation of the declared foreigners seldom comes from Bangladesh, which leads to a delay in the deportation. And the outcome is that only nine declared foreigners could have been deported to Bangladesh from Assam in the past ten years.

In the case of the deportation of convicted foreigners, the verification from Bangladesh comes instantly, as the foreigners have their addresses in their passports. And this led to the deportation of 405 convicted foreigners—375 Muslims and 30 Hindus—to Bangladesh from Assam in the past ten years.

The Centre and the State Government need to find a way to speed up the process of deporting declared foreigners to Bangladesh.

Also Read:CM Himanta Biswa Sarma apprises Amit Shah about flood situation

Also Watch: