Bangladeshis storm into Asom after Arunachal students' threat

Guwahati, July 11 (UNI) Over 900 suspected Bangladeshis were detained today at the Asom-Arunachal border with about 12 of them purportedly failing to prove their citizenship as thousands of suspected illegal immigrants trooped into the state in the wake of an eviction threat by Arunachal students' bodies.

As the ultimatum for suspected Bangladeshis to leave Arunachal Pradesh came closer, the former chose to take refuge in Asom with thousands entering the state through Lakhimpur district.

The Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union and the Nishi Students' Union had set a deadline of July 15 for all suspected Bangladeshi nationals in the state to leave.

As the deadline approached, over 10,000 Bangladeshi immigrants arrived at the Bandordua gate to the Asom-Arunachal border, loaded in buses and trucks, this morning to enter Asom.

The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and BJP activists imposed a road blockade in the Asom sector and prevented the suspected immigrants, mostly daily-wage labourers, from entering the state.

A senior police official of Lakhimpur informed UNI that the district administration and police had set three gates in the area to verify the immigrants.

Two gates had been set up in Bandordua and one at Lalung. More than 900 immigrants had already been examined. Of these, eleven had been suspected to be of doubtful nationality and taken into custody, he added.

Moreover, about 50 AASU and BJP activists had also been taken into preventive custody at Bandordua during the blockade.

Though the police official maintained that about 3000 suspected Bangladeshis had arrived from Arunachal, the student activists claimed that there were more than 10,000.

The local people said thousands of suspected Bangladeshis, who arrived today, had already sneaked into nearby Naoboisa and Arunabari areas.

The BJP had called a ''district bandh'' tomorrow in protest against the ''failure'' of the administration to check the suspected migrants from entering the state.

''We have no problem if the Bangladeshis are flushed out of Arunachal Pradesh, but Asom cannot be a breeding ground of the immigrants, '' a local BJP leader said.

The situation was tense in the district and the administration was monitoring the situation closely.

UNI