NEW DELHI, May 5 � Describing illegal migration from Bangladesh as a great problem, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram observed that tribunals under the Foreigners Act were the only option left to detect and deport illegal migrants after the Supreme Court�s verdict on the IM(DT) Act.
Replying to a volley of questions on the issue of illegal migration from across the border in a Rajya Sabha Question Hour discussion, Chidambaram said the Centre has written to the Assam Government to increase the number of tribunals. Chidambaram faced tough questions like whether the Government of India is planning to grant the illegal migrants Indian citizenship, or whether the Centre planned to declare them non-residents.
Chidambaram at the outset clarified that the issue of illegal migration is governed by the Assam Accord. There is a cut-off date in the Accord and that is March, 1971. There is procedure in the Act on how to deal with those people who came before March, 1971. �We are strictly adhering to the law in this matter,� he claimed.
The Government�s policy has remained the same since 1971. The IM(DT) Act was questioned and it has been struck down. �Now we revert to the Foreigners Act and the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order. Any illegal migrant found in any part of India would have to be detected under the Foreigners Act and the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order and then deported,� he said.
It is not as though illegal migrants from Bangladesh are not being deported out of India, he said. For example, in the last nine years, between 2000 to 2008, several thousand Bangladeshi nationals found overstaying their visas or illegally remaining in India have been deported. This process will continue, he assured.
The question is of setting up adequate number of tribunals and detecting illegal residents in India and deporting them and the Centre has also asked the Government of Assam to set up tribunals.
�After the judgement of the Supreme Court, that is the only course open to us to establish a number of tribunals to detect people, who are illegally staying in India and to deport them,� he opined.
Action that is taken on illegal immigrants, or, on people who overstayed their visas, predates the Supreme Court judgement and continues after the judgement. �I don�t think the Supreme Court judgement makes any difference to the policy adopted by the successive Governments,� he stated.
Between 2000 and 2009, up to August 2009, 1.03 lakh Bangladeshi nationals, who were intercepted on the border, were pushed back into that country. During the same period, people who were overstaying their visas, or, were found illegally staying in India, have been deported. Every year, several thousands have been deported, he said.
In the year 2004, 38,0005 people were deported. �So, both the things take place. We push them back at the point at which they are intercepted. We also deport them if they are found anywhere in India,� he said.
�But it is a great problem. Therefore, we are doing our best to address it. The policies of the successive Governments, as far as I know, are more or less the same,� Chidambaram said.
Meanwhile, the Home Minister denied that the Government of India is working on a plan to declare a unilateral no-fire-zone along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Replying to a question, Chidambaram, however, added that there is a proposal to relax the procedure relating to grant of conference visa to Bangladeshi citizens. The matter is under consideration, he added.
Some of the other categories under consideration for relaxation include professionals regularly visiting India, requiring longer stay than one year in rare and exceptional cases. Visa on medical grounds including visa to accompanying attendants and relatives are also being considered for relaxation.
The Minister further stated that he was not aware of severe visa restrictions being imposed on Bangladeshi nationals.
Earlier, Sushila Tiriya asked whether there is any proposal from the Government to grant Indian citizenship to Bangladeshis, who came before or after 1971.
Participating in the discussion, Najma Heptullah wondered what the government�s policy on illegal influx is. Is Government of India going to allow all these people to be absorbed with the local people? she asked.
Participating in the discussion, Kumar Deepak Das recalled that Supreme Court had described illegal infiltration as threat to the integrity of the nation. He stated that Border Security Force (BSF) has claimed that 12 lakh Bangladeshi is who entered the country on valid documents, of which 24,000 have disappeared.
Meanwhile, while replying to a separate question by Biren Baishya, Minister of State for Home Affairs, M Ramachandran said that registered infiltration cases in Assam have increased from 48 in 2007 to 101 in 2009.
However, there was no increase in the number of infiltration elsewhere according to the number of cases registered along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
