Family of indigenous Assam Muslim woman, who was 'pushed back' into Bangladesh, awaits her return

'We had no clue about her, but a few days ago, we saw in the news that she was found near Dhaka, she has been provided shelter by a family there', her family said.

Guwahati: On May 25, when a policeman from Assam's Nalbari police station came to her house, 68-year-old Sakina Begum thought it was a routine weekly appearance like what she had been doing since her release on bail from the foreigner detention centre during the Covid pandemic. But to her utter surprise, Sakina, a mother of five, was not allowed to return home and was taken to a BSF camp about 150 km away in Dhubri, a district bordering Bangladesh. 

She, along with a few others, was taken to the border and pushed back into Bangladesh as per an order of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

"As ma (mother) did not return, we went to the police station and later to the detention centre at Goalpara. But policemen there did not help us," Sakina's daughter Rashiya told DH over the phone on Friday.

"We had no clue about her, but a few days ago, we saw in the news that she was found near Dhaka in Bangladesh. She has been provided shelter by a family there. Now, we don't know who to approach for her return. Please do something," she said. 

Sakina is an Assamese Muslim from Barkura village belonging to Garia community. Garia is one of the five Muslim communities that were recognised as indigenous communities by the BJP-led government in Assam in 2022.

"My mother is not a Miya Muslim," Rashiya said.

Miya is a pejorative to identify the Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, whom the BJP calls "infiltrators" and a threat to the identity of the indigenous people. 

Sakina's husband, Khalil Ali, who died three years ago, however, was a Bengali-speaking Muslim. "But there was no case against my father," Rashiya said. 

Sakina was declared a foreigner by a Foreigner Tribunal (FT) in Nalbari in October 2012. She was subsequently detained in a detention camp in Kokrajhar till her release on bail as per an order of the Supreme Court in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In an affidavit in July, the Assam Home Department informed the Gauhati High Court that Sakina was declared a post-1971 migrant by the Nalbari FT on October 1, 2012. Her petition challenging the FT order was also dismissed by the High Court. Sakina was among the seven "declared foreigners" who were handed over to BSF personnel at Panbari in Dhubri on May 26, the affidavit said. 

March 24, 1971, is the cut-off date for the detection and deportation of foreigners only in Assam. This was decided in the Assam Accord of 1985, which was signed following the six-year-long Assam Agitation.

Legal fight

The affidavit was filed after All Bodo Territorial Council Minority Students' Union (ABMSU) moved the High Court with a PIL petition seeking the whereabouts of 21 such persons who had gone missing since the "push back" drive was launched.

"Now that she has been found near Dhaka, we will take the legal step before the next hearing of the case next month," ABMSU president Taison Hussain told DH on Friday.

'We came to know about her through a BBC journalist' 

Sakina's two sons are daily wagers. "The family is very poor and even sold their land to fight the legal battle. Now they live in a rented house," Hussain said. 

"We appeal to the Assam government to take steps to bring her back as she is an indigenous Muslim person," he said. 

Rajib Choudhary, spokesperson of the Sadou Asom Garia Jatiya Parishad, also urged the Assam government to bring Sakina back from Bangladesh, as the government recognised the Garias as an indigenous community in 2022.