Indigenous Assamese Muslim woman struggles to free herself from 'foreigner' tag

GUWAHATI: Rehena Islam, in her mid-forties, is a Khilongiya Musalmaan, meaning she is an indigenous Assamese Muslim. But for almost a year now, she has been spending a harrowing time after police served her a notice of foreigner’s tribunal that she has been declared as a foreigner.
A resident of Lekhapani under Margherita subdivision of upper Assam’s Tinsukia district, Rehena told TOI that the notice mentioned the name as “Rehena Begum” but police came to her house insisting that she is the woman that has been declared foreigner.

“How can Rehena Islam and Rehena Begum be the same? I am a Khilongiya Musalmaan. How can I be a foreigner? Since last year I have been spending a very difficult time, exploring legal options to prove that I am not the person who has been declared as foreigner. The fact is I am made to suffer for no fault of mine,” Rehena, who assists her hubsband Abdul Salim in his business at Lekhapani, broke down.

The tribunal declared Rehena Begum as foreigner in 2005, but Rehena Islam got the notice in Rehena Begum’s name on September 7, 2017.

In the 2010 voters’ list, Rehena Islam’s serial number is 302, while Rehena Begum who has been marked doubtful “D” voter in that list has the serial number 304.

“My name in the voter’s list is free from the D voter tag, whereas Rehena Begum had. This shows that we two are completely different persons. My date of birth in my school certificate of North Lakhimpur where I was born is November 1, 1970. The question of I being a foreigner does not arise at all,” she said.

Rehena said if a person like her, who comes from a respectable and well-to-do family, has to suffer in the name of foreigner, the situation should be quite pathetic for those from poor and economically weaker sections, who form the majority in “D” voters and declared foreigners’ lists.

She said that her izzat (honour) in the society is at stake for being considered as foreigner.

“Being from a well-to-do family, I have a reputation in the society. But now this foreigner tag has ruined me. People have started looking at me with different eyes even though I am a Khilongiya. I am already broken down. But my husband gives me hope that things will be cleared soon,” the mother of three, said.