Police in Assam detained a retired soldier and serving police officer on Wednesday after a court declared him a foreigner, in one of the most controversial outcomes of the country’s effort to clamp down on illegal immigration from neighbouring Bangladesh.
Guwahati:
Mohammad Sanaullah, a resident of Kolohikash village in Kamrup district, was declared a foreigner by the Foreigners Tribunal, Kamrup.
Police said they sent Mohammed Sana Ullah, 52, to a detention centre in Assam based on the order of a Foreigners’ Tribunal.
“He served the Indian army for 30 years but was declared as a foreigner ... and as per prescribed norms we have sent him to the detention camp,” Mousumi Kalita, a senior police official in Assam, told journalists.
“We only abide by the tribunal’s order and not aware on what grounds or why he was declared a foreigner.”
Mistaken identity
Ullah’s lawyer said it was a case of mistaken identity as the order cited his client as a labourer who came to India after 1971 without legal documents. Ullah’s family said they had Assam land records going back to 1935.
Lawyer Aman Wadud, who has handled dozens of cases of illegal immigration in Assam, said he would challenge the order in a higher court on Thursday.
Speaking to Reuters as he was shoved inside a police vehicle on the way to the detention centre in the border town of Goalpara, Ullah said he was heartbroken.
“This is the reward I got after serving for 30 years in the Indian army,” said Ullah, currently a deputy inspector in the border wing of the Assam Police. “I am an Indian, very much an Indian and will forever remain an Indian.”
Congress slams BJP govt, says insult to sacrifice of forces
The Congress on Thursday hit out at the BJP government over a tribunal in Assam declaring a Kargil war veteran a foreigner, saying it shows the "high- handedness and flawed manner" in which the NRC exercise is being implemented in the northeastern state.
"Shocking!! BJP Govt has labelled the 'Foreigner' tag to a Kargil War Hero! It is an insult to the sacrifice of our brave Armed Forces. This speaks volumes about the high handedness and flawed manner in which the NRC exercise is being implemented in Assam," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted.
Supreme Court warns official not to cut short process to meet deadline
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the NRC Coordinator to provide a fair chance to those who have challenged the non-inclusion of their names in the National Register of Citizen (NRC) in Assam.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi told Coordinator Prateek Hajela: "Don't cut short the process just because you have to meet the deadline of July 31."
The court said: "There are media reports how claims and objections are being dealt by the officials involved in the NRC. And the media is not always wrong. They are right sometime. Please make sure there are no loopholes in the process and it is done properly."
The court queried the Coordinator on the apparent possible exclusion of an ex-soldier from the NRC and called it a disturbing incident. Hajela was asked to decide the matters through a fair process and build no short cuts into the NRC process.
The top court reiterated that the July 31 deadline for the publication of final Assam NRC draft was non-negotiable and it should not be met at the expense of those who have filed claims for inclusion of their names in the NRC.
"They should be given procedural chance to present their case," the court said.
Millions of people in Assam are scrambling to prove their citizenship after the government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, mandated residents of the state to produce documents proving that they or their families lived in the country before March 24, 1971.
Much of the over 2,500-mile-long (4,000-km) border between Hindu-majority India and mainly Muslim Bangladesh is porous. Hundreds of thousands of people have moved to India from Bangladesh since its New Delhi-backed war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Modi’s party, which increased its parliamentary majority this month after a general election, has promised to identify all migrants living in the country illegally, give citizenship to all non-Muslims from neighbouring Muslim majority countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan, and expel the rest.
His Bharatiya Janata Party made electoral gains in Assam and neighbouring West Bengal state by pledging to act against immigrants, accused by some locals of taking jobs and resources.
It has been reported that even a spelling error can ruin a family in the citizenship test.
The draft Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published on July 30, 2018 in which the names of 2.89 crore of the 3.29 crore people were included. The names of 40,70,707 people did not figure in the list. Of these, 37,59,630 names have been rejected and the remaining 2,48,077 are on hold.
A case was registered in 2008 after Sanaullah's name was listed as a 'D' (doubtful) voter in the voters list, according to Additional Superintendent of Police (Kamrup) Sanjib Saikia.
Sanaullah's family said it would appeal to the Gauhati High Court against the tribunal's verdict.
(With inputs from Reuters)