Ahead of Assembly polls, Assam seeks to expel 'declared foreigners' within a week of identification

Guwahati: The BJP-led Assam government is set to expel persons declared foreigners by the Foreigner Tribunal within a week in a move to give "new direction" to deal with the state's longstanding issue of infiltrators.  

"In the last three months, our government has pushed back nearly 2,000 illegal migrants to Bangladesh. But now, we have taken a decision that those declared foreigners by the tribunals be pushed back within a week. This policy is going to give a new direction to the way declared foreigners are dealt with," Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters in Guwahati on the first day of the new year.

"This will hasten the process and avoid the delay in sending them back as they move the High Court and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court recently upheld the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act 1950 that allowed the district commissioners to expel the declared foreigners. Earlier, many talked about the need of a bilateral treaty with Bangladesh for sending the illegal migrants back. But such a treaty is not required in sending the illegal migrants back," Sarma added. 

The chief minister's announcement comes days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in a public meeting in Assam that the NDA government at the Centre would identify and expel "infiltrators" across the country.

"We are pushing back the illegal infiltrators almost daily, even yesterday, we pushed back 28 to Bangladesh," Sarma said.

Adding a new dimension

Foreigner tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies set up under the Foreigners Act 1946 and the Foreigner (Tribunal) Order 1964 to deal with the cases filed against people suspected to be illegal migrants in Assam.

Those failing to prove Indian citizenship with March 24, 1971 as the cut-off are declared foreigners and are lodged in detention centres till their expulsion.

The cut-off date was decided only for Assam as per the Assam Accord signed in 1985 following the six-year-long anti-foreigners movement or the Assam Agitation (1979-1985).

Those declared foreigners could challenge the Tribunal order in a High Court and the Supreme Court. However, the decision to expel them within one week of the order, in the run up to Assembly elections, is likely to add a new dimension to the Assam's long problem of infiltrators.

The problem takes centre stage in Assam, especially during elections.