BSF asked to step up vigil post Dhaka attack

Assam asks Centre to form policy on immigrants

 In the wake of the terror attack in Dhaka, the BSF has been asked by the Centre to keep a strict vigil on the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

Even the governors of Assam and Tripura have told the Border Security Force (BSF) to tighten their vigil on the border with Bangladesh following the terror attack on Dhaka and a series of attacks elsewhere in Bangladesh on religious minorities.

Assam Governor P B Acharya visited the Sutarkandi border areas in Karimganj district last Sunday and held discussion with BSF officials, and asked them to keep “maximum vigil” along the border.

On the other hand, Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy also met BSF officials and asked them to increase vigil. In fact, the state police are also conducting regular patrols in the border villages after the Dhaka attack, official sources added.

Policy on immigrants

Meanwhile, in the wake of the  attacks, Asom Gana Parishad –a constituent in the state’s ruling front—has asked the Centre to design a policy for the Hindu Bengali immigrants from that country.

“Recent attack by terrorists and selective killing of non Muslims in Dhaka has made it clear that organised terror has arrived on our doors in neighbouring Bangladesh and their target is very clearly large non Muslim population there,” said AGP chief and former state chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.

He said alarm bells are ringing for the Northeast ever since the Islamists-backed local terrorists killed two Hindu priests and reports from that country indicate that the 1.7 crore Hindus in Bangladesh are living in fear and might try to migrate to India.

Illegal migration from Bangladesh has been a contentious issue in Assam ever since the 1980s when Mahanta headed the agitation against the issue.

“We want the NDA government to clearly formulate a policy for (Bangladeshi Hindus’) rehabilitation and settlement so that Assam is not made a victim again for the short political gains of a party,” Mahanta said, reiterating the demand that the Assam accord should be fully implemented without any dilution.