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Minority Affairs Ministry directive to State Govt

By Kalyan Barooah

NEW DELHI, Sept 26 - Alleging that a large number of Bengali-speaking people have been picked up and put in detention centres in Assam without proper investigation, Union Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) has called upon the Sonowal Government to exercise caution in identifying illegal residents.

The MoMA recommendations are part of a report by the National Commission for Minorities member Farida Abdulla Khan who had undertaken a tour of the State from September 7 to 10 to review the MSDP (multi-sectoral developmental programmes) and other schemes for the welfare of minorities. She had visited Kamrup, Kokrajhar, Baksa districts among others and submitted her report.

In her report, Khan referring to the issue of illegal migrants, said that the issue of identifying illegal residents be carefully reviewed, so as not to target helpless and defranchised section of the Muslim population. Currently, it seems that a large number of Bengali speaking people have been picked up and put in detention centres without adequate investigation or notice, she observed.

�This is creating extreme uncertainty and anxiety among large sections of the labouring poor,� Khan said in her report.

The BJP-led NDA Government talking tough on detection and deportation of illegal migrants has alarmed the MoMA.

Recently, the Assam Government had launched an eviction drive in and around Kaziranga National Park and proposed to clear the land belonging to the sattras from the clutches of encroachers. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had also proposed to expedite the process of updating the National Register of Citizens and clear the voters list of names of illegal migrants.

Sonowal had admitted that the illegal migration is destroying the demographic structure of the State. Because of the unusual growth of illegal migrants, local people have been pushed to becoming a minority, he said, adding, there was rampant influx of illegal migrants in the past.

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