GUWAHATI, April 9 - With the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 scheduled to resume the hearings from April 12, the North East Students� Organization (NESO), while opposing the Bill, demanded that inner line permit system should be introduced in the entire region.
The NESO believes that the Bill is an attempt to impose the burden of Hindu Bangladeshis who came to India after 1971 on the entire North East region. The NESO, in a memorandum to the JPC, asserted that the North East is not a dumping ground for illegal Bangladeshis and the Bill would defeat the very purpose of signing of the Assam Accord. While supporting the Assam Accord, which set March 25, 1971 as the cut off date for detection and deportation of Bangladeshis living illegally in Assam, the NESO said that the Bill should not be adopted by the Parliament at any cost. If the Parliament adopts the Bill, it would create unrest in the region and the Bill should not be passed to avoid such a possibility.
The NESO demanded that inner line permit system should be adopted in the entire North East region. The NESO also demanded that constitutional safeguards should be provided to the people of the states of the region with rights over land and natural resources.
The NESO alleged that the Union Government does not understand the problems and aspirations of the people of the North East. �Our social structure, history and cultural values are unknown to the rest of the country and the Bill proved yet again that the lawmakers of the country have no regard for the future of the people of the North East,� the NESO alleged.
The NESO further said that the entire North East is infested with foreigners from erstwhile East Pakistan and now Bangladesh. The foreigners infiltrated into and polluted every aspect of the social life of the people of the North East. The foreign nationals have been getting the support of the political leaders, which threatened the identity of the indigenous people of the states of the region, the NESO alleged.
It may be mentioned here that the JPC is scheduled to resume hearings from April 12 but all the organizations opposing the Bill have not been invited to participate in the hearings to be held in New Delhi, which is strongly opposed by different organizations. There have also been demands that instead of organizing the hearings in Delhi, members of the JPC should visit Assam and meet cross sections of people before formulating its views.
