Asom to review foreigner tribunal functioning

Guwahati, Aug 4 (UNI) Dogged by growing criticism over its alleged inaction towards the unabated ingress of suspected Bangladeshis, the Asom government has decided to convene a meeting of the judges of the tribunals set up to speed up the work of detection and deportation of the illegal foreigners.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, in a statement here today, assured that the government will not give any protection to foreigners as well as ensure that no genuine Indian citizen is harassed in the process.

Terming the recent statements of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and the BJP ''baseless'', the Chief Minister claimed that nobody has come forward to specifically complain or identify foreigners, but certain sections have only indulged in making wild allegations.

The AASU and BJP had charged the state government with ''shielding'' the illegal migrants who have been ''pushed into the state by Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.'' ''Had those people been foreigners, the two states (Arunachal and Nagaland) should have dealt with them as per the Foreigners' Act, 1946 instead of pushing them into Asom. There is no need for identification since they had gone there with valid inner-line permits,'' Mr Gogoi said.

He also added that taking note of the allegations, the state government has instructed the district administration concerned to verify their antecedents and they have been found to be Indian citizens with valid documents.

Reiterating the government's commitment to implement the Asom Accord in letter and spirit, the Chief Minister, perhaps for the first time, declared that ''any foreigner who has come to Asom after the signing of the Accord will be detected and deported''.

''However, there should not be two opinions. The BJP wants that only the Muslims should be detected and deported,'' he said.

Taking a stern view of a statement issued by a minority students body, the Chief Minister warned that nobody has the right to issue any statement barring them from moving freely within the state.

''The government will take action,'' he cautioned.

Appealing to the organisations not to take a line of confrontation, Mr Gogoi said the government was taking effective steps to update the National Register of Citizens, set up more border observation posts, intensify patrolling along the border and make birth and death registrations compulsory.

UNI