AASU claims Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam still ‘open’ for illegal immigration

The AASU said that Assam was becoming a 'hotbed' of Islamic terror groups due to the government’s 'failure' to seal the border

The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) alleged that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre failed to seal the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam, hence the “illegal migration” from the neighbouring country was continuing.

The AASU, which led the Assam Agitation or the anti-foreigners movement between 1979 and 1985, said that Assam was becoming a “hotbed” of Islamic terror groups due to the government’s failure to seal the land and water border with Bangladesh.

“The India-Bangladesh border has not been completely sealed even after 75 years of Independence. We have been demanding for the past 37 years that the border be sealed as per the Assam Accord. The Narendra Modi government also has failed to seal the border in the past seven years,” the AASU said, after a team of the students’ body visited the Indo-Bangladesh border areas in western Assam’s Dhubri district on Sunday.

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The team was led by AASU general secretary Shankarjyoti Baruah and advisor Prakash Chandra Das. “The team observed that the land border has not been sealed at Binnasara, Ghehumari, and Pataomari, while parts of the water border in the Brahmaputra and Gadadhar rivers have also remained unfenced. Illegal migration is still on through these unfenced stretches. The government must immediately fulfil its promise to bridge these stretches with laser guard technology,” said the AASU.

Assam shares 268 km of the total 4,156 km of the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Sealing the border was one of the promises made in the Assam Accord of 1985—signed by AASU leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, who had led the anti-foreigner agitators, along with the Rajiv Gandhi government.

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Detection of foreigners with March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date was another major promise made in the historic accord.

The Centre several times, had said that most parts of the border were sealed and that gadgets would soon be installed in the water borders, where fencing was not possible. However, the influential regional students’ organisation alleged that it was not yet done.

Every election season, the foreigners’ issue becomes a vital poll plank for all political parties in Assam, yet nothing actually was done to curb the illegal immigration.