GUWAHATI, April 25 � The Co-ordination Committee of Linguistic and Religious Minority Organizations of Assam today accused the State Government of purposefully delaying the NRC update and disposal of the �D� voters� cases pending in the Foreigners� Tribunal.
Addressing a press meet, committee member Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury said that the government wants to keep the issues alive for narrow political benefits.
�Quick disposal of the pending �D� voters� cases and updating the NRC are the issues, which the government wants to keep alive in order to reap political benefits,� added Nripendra Chandra Saha.
�At least 4,00,000 cases of �D� voters pending in the Foreigners� Tribunal must be disposed of quickly to clear the backlog, deport the foreigners and do justice to the original Indian citizens,� he added.
�The government must do the needful like appointing adequate number of judges and setting up additional tribunals to dispose of the cases,� he added.
Further accusing Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi of keeping the people of Assam in the dark about the proposed amendments in the Citizenship Rules 2003, the committee reiterated that March 25, 1971 must be the cut-off date for the establishing citizenship status.
A delegation of the committee, after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, charged that the �controversial notification� in November 2009 for amending the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules 2003 was issued at the suggestion of the Chief Minister of the State.
�The Union Home Minister himself informed us that the November 2009 notification was issued as per suggestion of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi when the delegation consisting of Nripendra Chandra Saha, Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury and advocate Monowar Hussain among others met him in New Delhi,� said Choudhury.
�Gogoi, on the other hand, said in public that he was kept in the dark about the notification by the Union Government,� he added.
The committee alleged that the said notification was a deviation from the consensus arrived at by all political parties and organisations including AASU to consider March 25, 1971 as the cut-off date for establishing citizenship status.
�We also want a solution to the foreigners� issue, but original Indian citizens should not be victimised in the name of deportation of the foreigners. At least 90, 00, 000 minority people live in Assam and they must be taken into confidence to solve the burning problems of the State,� mentioned Monowar Hussain.
Slamming the State Government for its failure to seal the border till date, he mentioned that the government lacked the sincerity to complete the task.
