<p>Guwahati: In the wee hours of Tuesday, at least 14 "illegal migrants" were pushed into Bangladesh by BSF personnel in western Assam's South Salmara Mankachar district. Most of them were reportedly picked up by border police from their homes miles away, taken to the country's biggest foreigner detention camp at Matia in Goalpara and later pushed through the border.</p><p>The victims, all Bengali speaking Muslims, remained stranded on the zero line for hours as Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) refused them entry into Bangladesh. Hours later, they were reportedly provided shelters in a nearby camp.</p>.'C-grade Bollywood movie that'll flop miserably': Gaurav Gogoi on Assam CM's allegations.<p>Several such persons were similarly pushed into Bangladesh in the past few weeks as the BJP-led government in Assam adopted the "push back" route as a solution to the state's long struggle for deportation of "illegal migrants" to Bangladesh. </p><p><strong>Push back policy</strong></p><p>CM Himanta Biswa Sarma recently said several such "illegal migrants"--Bengali speaking Muslims and the Rohingyas--were pushed back to Bangladesh. "Only a few are now left in the Matia detention camp," Sarma said. </p><p>Aman Wadud, a lawyer handling such cases for long, said, "Most of those pushed back remained lodged in the detention camp after being declared foreigners. But they were released on conditions as per an order of the Supreme Court in 2020."</p><p>"What is happening in Assam is against the government's own stand. During the deportation of the Indian nationals from the US, our external affairs minister S. Jaishankar in a response in the Parliament said that unambiguous verification of nationality is essential for deportation. But the Assam government is resorting to illegal means as they know very well that declared foreigners can't be deported without verification of their addresses by Bangladesh," Wadud said. </p>.Gogoi's wife collected IB reports for Pak agency, alleges Assam CM Himanta.<p>The Assam government also detained more than 100 persons recently on suspicion of being illegal migrants following a recent order of the MHA. </p><p><strong>Fear of harassment</strong></p><p>While the fate of those pushed into Bangladesh are not known, the actions triggered fears about possibility of harassment on the pretext of detection and deportation of "illegal migrants".</p><p>The Opposition parties including Congress says detection and deportation should be done as per the Assam Accord of 1985 that set March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date. "All post-1971 migrants must be deported. But no genuine citizens must be harassed," Akhil Gogoi, an MLA from Raijor Dal, a regional opposition party, said. "The NRC process must be completed for deportation," he said. </p><p>On Wednesday, a delegation of the Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF met Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya alleging that Indian Muslim citizens were being harassed. </p><p>Organisations representing the indigenous Assamese communities including the All Assam Students' Union have been putting pressure on the government to fulfill the promises made in the Assam Accord for detection and deportation of the post-1971 migrants. </p><p>The Accord, led by AASU and others, was signed following the six-year-long anti-foreigners movement but deportation has still remained a murky affair in Assam. This adds fuel to politics over the issue, particularly ahead of every election. Assembly elections in Assam are slated next year. </p>
<p>Guwahati: In the wee hours of Tuesday, at least 14 "illegal migrants" were pushed into Bangladesh by BSF personnel in western Assam's South Salmara Mankachar district. Most of them were reportedly picked up by border police from their homes miles away, taken to the country's biggest foreigner detention camp at Matia in Goalpara and later pushed through the border.</p><p>The victims, all Bengali speaking Muslims, remained stranded on the zero line for hours as Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) refused them entry into Bangladesh. Hours later, they were reportedly provided shelters in a nearby camp.</p>.'C-grade Bollywood movie that'll flop miserably': Gaurav Gogoi on Assam CM's allegations.<p>Several such persons were similarly pushed into Bangladesh in the past few weeks as the BJP-led government in Assam adopted the "push back" route as a solution to the state's long struggle for deportation of "illegal migrants" to Bangladesh. </p><p><strong>Push back policy</strong></p><p>CM Himanta Biswa Sarma recently said several such "illegal migrants"--Bengali speaking Muslims and the Rohingyas--were pushed back to Bangladesh. "Only a few are now left in the Matia detention camp," Sarma said. </p><p>Aman Wadud, a lawyer handling such cases for long, said, "Most of those pushed back remained lodged in the detention camp after being declared foreigners. But they were released on conditions as per an order of the Supreme Court in 2020."</p><p>"What is happening in Assam is against the government's own stand. During the deportation of the Indian nationals from the US, our external affairs minister S. Jaishankar in a response in the Parliament said that unambiguous verification of nationality is essential for deportation. But the Assam government is resorting to illegal means as they know very well that declared foreigners can't be deported without verification of their addresses by Bangladesh," Wadud said. </p>.Gogoi's wife collected IB reports for Pak agency, alleges Assam CM Himanta.<p>The Assam government also detained more than 100 persons recently on suspicion of being illegal migrants following a recent order of the MHA. </p><p><strong>Fear of harassment</strong></p><p>While the fate of those pushed into Bangladesh are not known, the actions triggered fears about possibility of harassment on the pretext of detection and deportation of "illegal migrants".</p><p>The Opposition parties including Congress says detection and deportation should be done as per the Assam Accord of 1985 that set March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date. "All post-1971 migrants must be deported. But no genuine citizens must be harassed," Akhil Gogoi, an MLA from Raijor Dal, a regional opposition party, said. "The NRC process must be completed for deportation," he said. </p><p>On Wednesday, a delegation of the Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF met Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya alleging that Indian Muslim citizens were being harassed. </p><p>Organisations representing the indigenous Assamese communities including the All Assam Students' Union have been putting pressure on the government to fulfill the promises made in the Assam Accord for detection and deportation of the post-1971 migrants. </p><p>The Accord, led by AASU and others, was signed following the six-year-long anti-foreigners movement but deportation has still remained a murky affair in Assam. This adds fuel to politics over the issue, particularly ahead of every election. Assembly elections in Assam are slated next year. </p>