The Assam government on Saturday deported 20 Bangladeshi nationals to Bangladesh, including one female through legal procedures from the international border at Sutarkandi in Karimganj district. These 20 people had been lodged in Silchar and Kokrajhar detention camp for violation of either the Passports Act of the Foreigners Act.
According to the reports, the Bangladeshi nationals had entered into India through different parts of Assam and Meghalaya and did not possess valid documents. Police Inspector (border wing) Utpal Sharma said, “These Bangladeshi nationals have confessed that they entered India illegally in search of jobs or to meet their relatives.”
Emphasising on the legality of the procedure, Sharma further stated, “The 20 people were deported to Bangladesh through the Sutarkandi (India)-Sheola (Bangladesh) border check post (in Assam) in the presence of the Border Security Force and Border Guards Bangladesh.” Moreover, officials of the Assam government, Assam Police and union home ministry were also present during the deportation process.
The deported Bangladeshi nationals, comprising both Hindus and Muslims were identified as Mohammad Azim Uddin, Muhammad Ishaq Ali, Sujit Chandra Das, Amed Uddin, Iqbal Hussain Talukdar, Samir Ahmed, Abdul Gafur (all from Sylhet district, Bangladesh), Faruq Mishra, Rabindra Das, Digendra Chandra Das, Faruq Mishra, Shah Ali Miya, Faruq Mishra, Mohammad Ibrahim Talukdar, Saiyad Al Amin, Parimal Jaldas (all from Kishoreganj district, Bangladesh) and Alo Rani Das.
The government has been very pro-active in the deportation of illegal immigrants as was visible when prior to this, India had deported 21 Bangladeshi nationals on January 19 this year through Karimganj-Bangladesh border.
Assam shares a 263 km border along Karimganj district with Bangladesh’s Sylhet district; hence the issue of illegal immigrants is quite frequent.
Ever since the update process of NRC started in the year 2013, under the strict monitoring of the Supreme Court, the issue of the infiltrators has been strictly dealt with. In 2014, 989 Bangladeshi nationals were deported whereas in 2015 and in 2016, the figure was 474 and 308, respectively.
In this regard, the NRC has turned out to be hugely popular as illegal immigrants pose a massive threat to the security and safety of India. The difficulties faced by the people of the North-eastern states due to the influx of a large number of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants include the loss of employment and loss of business opportunities, amongst others. These are accompanied by the destruction of the natural beauty, balance of the society and local culture due to the ever-increasing burden of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.