During his visit to Bangladesh, India’s Prime Minister Modi presented a mega-portrait of the surrender of Pakistani troops to Prime Minister Hasina. They agreed to set up a museum of memorabilia to remind the people of the Pakistan army’s surrender all those years ago.
Now this friendship between the two countries has petered out. India has refused to recognize those Bangladeshis as her citizens, who fail to prove their credentials of residence in Assam, before March 25, 1971. The Bangladesh-Assam borders have been porous since times immemorial. People keep migrating from one side to another.
To push back millions of Bangladeshis back into their homeland could be disastrous, with India expected to announce their decision over the citizenship of the millions of resident aliens’ in their country, soon. The non-nationals will be forced to move back to Bangladesh, and the decision could potentially affect about 10 million people, who are currently awaiting their fate. The first list of `genuine citizens’ announced early this year included 1.90 crore people, out of the total 3.29 crore applicants. The Indian government has dispatched 220 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces to boost security in Assam and its neighbouring states.
India says that Bangladeshi immigrants have altered the demographic complexion of the Assam state. They adversely affected the social, economic and political environment in Assam, besides creating a national security problem. Let us see how Bangladesh reacts to this mass exodus of their people from Assam.
MALIK ABDUL HAMEED
Islamabad
Published in Daily Times, August 21st 2018.