GUWAHATI, July 28 - At a time when Dhaka continues to dawdle through the deportation pleas placed by the Indian Government, a Bangladeshi mother�s desperate longing for her missing son has had an amusing effect on those mandated for detection of illegal migrants in Assam!
Bypassing the customary diplomatic procedures of her country, this Bangladeshi mother has now been in direct correspondence with the Assam Police to get her son deported.
Not surprisingly, for Dispur, the initiative comes as a pleasant surprise, as such claims, or, for that matter, nationality verification from the other side of the border, are rare. As records suggest, Dhaka has chosen to sit over the pleas made by Assam through the Ministry of External Affairs to facilitate deportation of more than 250 illegal migrants caught in the State in the last few years. During this four-year period, only 37 Bangladeshis could be deported from Assam.
�Deportation is the prerogative of the Centre. Unlike other cases where identification or nationality of the detenues could not be proved or corroborated, Lalita Begum of Sylhet district of Bangladesh has sought deportation of her son, who at present is languishing in a Silchar detention camp, and this automatically proves the case,� top Assam Police sources told this reporter.
In her letter to the Cachar Superintendent of Police, the aggrieved Bangladeshi mother has written, �My son Md Mihir Pabel Mia has already completed his term of imprisonment in the Silchar Central Jail and as such he should be released and deported to Bangladesh.�
Sources told this reporter that although the process should have been ideally initiated at the government level, the claim by the Bangladeshi woman, however, was found to be true.
�At a time when the Indian Government has failed to corroborate the identity of the Bangladeshis caught in Assam, such a claim comes as a breather. As it is the Union Government who is responsible for deportation of foreign nationals, the matter would be brought to their notice soon,� official sources said.
Lalita Begum, according to sources, is a resident of Mirmohalla village of Sylhet in Bangladesh and it was not known as to how she got such pinpoint information about her son.
Pabel Mia was arrested in 2013 by Indian security forces and was later tried under Section 14-A (b) of the Foreigners Act. He was imprisoned for two years from September 23, 2014. At the end of his term in the Silchar Central Jail, he was sent to a foreigners� detention camp where is presently lodged with along with nearly 50 other detenues.
The letter, issued from Bangladesh on June 1, 2016, has reached the State Government through the State Police and will be reportedly sent to the Ministry of External Affairs for its redressal.
�Dhaka, in most cases, refuses to take back Bangladeshi nationals and confirm their nationality. As far as the State Government is concerned, we are miffed at the slow pace and had raised the issue with the higher-ups on more than one occasion. How long will the State Government incur their expenses?� sources rued.
Experts say that with the nationality of Pabel Mia virtually confirmed, it should not take long for either the Indian or the Bangladesh Government to facilitate his deportation.
