By OP Gupta, IFS (Retd)
On illegal infiltration of Bangladeshi Muslims into India, Lt. Gen SK Sinha, the then Governor of Assam sent a paper in November, 1998 to Shri KR Naraynan, the then President of India. It is a detailed epic paper available on internet. Historical background is that when demand for Partition was being made on lines of religion, MA Jinnah had thought of Bang-e-Islam comprising Bengal and Assam in the East Pakistan. Moinul Haque Chowdhary, a private secretary of MA Jinnah, who had told Jinnah that he would present Assam to him on a silver platter was made a Congress Minister first in the Assam Government and latter a Congress Minister in the Central Government of India to facilitate infiltration of Bangladeshi Muslims.
Failure to get Assam into East Pakistan in 1947 remains a source of secret resentment in Dhaka as is the resentment in Islamabad to get Jammu and Kashmir. Only difference is that Islamabad is attempting to capture J&K by force and terrorism, Dhaka is attempting its hidden agenda through demographic invasion. Another difference is whereas Dhaka’s silent invasion is supported by Marxist and Congressi Hindus, Pakistan’s is not.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the hanged Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan wrote in his book Myths of Independence, “it would be wrong to think that Kashmir is only dispute that divides India and Pakistan, though undoubtedly the most significant. One at least is merely as important as the Kashmir dispute, that of Assam and some districts of India adjusted to East Pakistan. To these Pakistan has good claims.”
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman also, in his book, Eastern Pakistan, Its Population and Economics wrote, “Because Eastern Pakistan has no sufficient land for its expansion and because Assam has abundant forest and mineral resources, coal, petroleum, etc. Eastern Pakistan must include Assam to be financially and economically strong.” Many Hindus are ignorant of these historical background.
While inaugurating a conference of State Chief Secretaries and Director Generals of State Police, Shri LK Advani, the then Dy Prime Minister said on January 7, 2003 that the Government of India had issued directives to crack down on 11,500 Pakistanis and over 15 million Bangladeshis illegally staying in India, launch special drives to detect and deport them as they posed a serious threat to national security of India. But nothing came out of this empty thunder of Advani.
The BBC in its January 8, 2003 news reported that the Foreign Ministry of Islamic Republic of Bangladesh promptly dismissed this statement of Shri Advani as ‘absurd’, as according to Bangladesh Foreign Ministry there is no Bangladeshi illegally living in India.
The then Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury on January 31, 2003 accused India of pushing Bengali speaking Indian Muslims into Bangladesh. This has been the official line of the Government of Bangladesh on question of Bangladeshi infiltrators in India.
Indian courts have also been observing that Bangladeshi infiltrators posed threat to national security and courts have been directing deportation of infiltrators but with no effective implementation by the Governments. On February 26, 2001, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising CJ AS Anand, JJ RC Lahiri and Brijesh Kumar observed “illegal Bangladeshi migrants are eating into economy of India and to a large extent are security threat and that to prevent illegal migrants from Bangladesh steps taken by Government are next to nil, and if it is not checked the problem will go on aggravating.” On February 28, 2001, BBC reported that the then Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hasan rejected this observation of Indian Supreme Court repeating the same lie that no illegal infiltration from Bangladesh ever took place into India.
The Congress Party has been delaying action on deportation of Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators by inventing tribunals, special rules for detection, etc which the Supreme Court rejected. The Supreme Court in its judgment of July 2005 [Lahoti, Mathur & Balasubramanyan] directed the Congress government speedy deportation of illegal infiltrators, and, in its judgment of December 5, 2006 [SB Sinha & PK Balasubramanyan] criticised the Union Government for not implementing directions of the Supreme Court.
It may be recalled that in its judgment of April 3, 2002, the Supreme Court Division Bench (JJ Doraiswamy Raju and Ashok Bhan) dismissing an appeal filed by a Pakistani couple who were illegally living in India for over 40 years from 1955 decided that foreigners cannot claim the right to Indian citizenship on the ground that they are enrolled in voter lists and that they are living here for a long time.
Further Indian passports in the hands of illegal infiltrators or foreigners do not make them Indian citizens as the Section 12(1A) of the Passport Act boldly states that whoever, not being a citizen of India, makes an application for a passport or obtains a passport by suppressing information about his nationality shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but may extend to five years and with fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees but which may extend to fifty thousand rupees. This provision was added to the Passport Act when this writer was Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs heading the Consular, Passport & Visa Division. So a Bangladeshi even when armed with Indian voter card or Indian passport is not an Indian citizen and can be deported.
Demand for deportation of Bangladeshi Muslims, Pakistani Muslims, etc is motivated by desire to protect employment opportunities of Indian citizens and national security. There is nothing communal in asking to deport Muslim infiltrators as Islamic countries of Pakistan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries keep expelling illegal aliens most of them being Muslims.
In his famous article “Internal security at danger level” in the Hindustan Times (October 25, 1998) late VN Gadgil wrote that security cannot be scarified at the altar of secularism. Gadgil wrote “there has been continuous arrival of illegal immigrants in India particularly from the Islamic Republic of Bangladesh… The reality is that Islamic fundamentalism poses greatest threat to our security. The infiltrating Bangladeshis have among them a large number of anti-social elements and potential fifth columnists. Indeed it is a demographic aggression.”
On November 1, 1995, the ANI reported that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan launched a massive campaign to detect and deport about 2 million illegal immigrants mostly Muslims from Bangladesh. Speaking before the Pakistani National Assembly, the then Interior Minister Naseerullah Babar said “we will throw all illegal immigrants out; the problem of unemployment could not be resolved without repatriating illegal immigrants.” Regarding the Organisation of Islamic Countries taking up this issue with Pakistan, Babar said “let the Arabs take Biharis, we are not ready to accept them as plenty of land is available to settle them in UAE, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, etc.”
Malaysia, another Muslim country and a member of OIC introduced canning of illegal immigrants mostly Muslims from Indonesia and Bangladesh followed by deportation. Labour agents were canned and Malaysian employers of illegal workers faced jail from 6 months to 5 years as well as fine from Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. During April-July, 2002, about 3 lakh illegal foreign workers were forced out of Malaysia. Between March 22 and July 11, 2002, a total of 145,000 Indonesian Muslims and about 14,000 Bangladeshi Muslims were deported from Malaysia. Mahathir, a Muslim Prime Minister of Malaysia, refused request of the Muslim President of Indonesia to go soft on deportation of illegal Indonesian Muslims.
The Migration News (August, 1997) reported that Jordan, a Muslim country, demanded that Egyptians about 130,000, all Muslims, working illegally in Jordan get proper work permit or face expulsion. Migration News (November, 1997) reported that in 1996, Saudi Government expelled about 400,000 mostly Muslims illegals. In another drive to flush out illegal aliens [about 1.2 million] were deported by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States, more than 350,000 illegal aliens mostly Muslims were forced to leave Saudi Arabia alone in June, 2000. Saudi authorities warned foreigners without valid papers and those employing illegal of heavy fines and jail terms. So, for sake of employment opportunities of their local population Muslim countries have been expelling illegal Muslim immigrants but Indian secular Hindu politicians have been illegally inviting Bangladeshis to snatch jobs of Indians in India. This is double gaddari, one to national security and secondly to Indian working class.
As the Indian economy is the strongest and the largest in the South Asia, it is natural that people from neighbouring countries will sneak into India in search of jobs. India must make distinction between (i) Religious Refugees [RR] escaping from religious persecutions in Islamic Republics of Pakistan and Bangladesh, Talibani Afghanistan (ii) Genuine Economic Guest Workers [GEGW], and (iii) Political Infiltrators [PIs] entering into India for jihad, crimes, sabotage, espionage and terrorism, etc.
To handle this question of illegal aliens in India the following comprehensive plan of actions is suggested:
[A] All those Hindus who have migrated or will migrate to India from Islamic Republic of Pakistan or from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, etc escaping from religious persecutions will have Religious Refugee (RR) status in India and should be slowly absorbed and rehabilitated as Indian citizens. Indian diplomatic missions in these countries should issue long term gratis visa to Hindus facing discrimination.
[B] All aliens (from Afghan, Bangladesh, Burma, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, etc) other than RR who till date have not become lawfully naturalised Indian citizens are required to register themselves before August 15, 2012 with the nearest Police Station giving their full personal particulars, their address in India and in their own home country, photographs of each member of family, details of their bank accounts in India, names of their employers in India and monthly income of each member of family. Intimation to Police will be treated as work permit of Genuine Economic Guest worker [GEGW] for two years. After two years they should leave India if work permit is not renewed. Fees of Rs 1,000 per worker or two months’ salary earned in India whichever is more will be payable annually towards work permit. This would yield annual revenue of over Rs 4,000 crore. The guest workers shall be automatically removed from voters list and the public distribution system.
Properties of aliens with GEGW status acquired in India shall not be confiscated during the period of validity of their work permits.
[C] All those non-Hindu illegal aliens who do not obtain proper GEGW status shall be treated as political infiltrators or political saboteurs. Their properties in India should be confiscated. It should be made criminal offence with minimum of two years jail to any Indian citizen who gives jobs and money, residence, cooperation, etc to political infiltrators.
[D] Any citizen of India including public servants, a person with RR status or any alien with GEGW status can confidentially inform about presence of a PI in India to the government and he shall be suitably rewarded.
[E] Any citizen of India who helps a PI in any way shall not be eligible during his lifetime for any elective post under the Representation Act nor shall he be given any public assignment.
[F] All Hindus who migrated from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, etc to India after 1947 due to religious persecution should register details of their properties left there at brmanch@gmail.com and opg55555@gmail.com so that question of proper compensation to them can be taken up with governments of those countries.
[Writer served as Ambassador to many countries and is National Working President of the Bharat Raksha Manch. Contact opg55555@gmail.com]
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