Raising the problem of infiltration from Bangladesh, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that Rohingya use Assam and NorthEastern states principally as transit factors to attain different elements of India.
Sarma stated, “Assam is facing a national issue, the issue of Rohingya infiltration is not just an issue of the state. They use Assam and Tripura mostly as a transit point to enter India from Bangladesh. The Assam Police and its Special Task Force (STF) teams work hard to nab the touts who help them get fake documents.”
The Rohingya Community
The subject dates again to the early fifteenth century and transcends the border of Assam. The Assam-Bangladesh worldwide border is 262-km-long, of which 1.6% is unfenced. The Assam-Tripura interstate border is 46-km-long.
There are two distinct Muslim teams in Myanmar. The group that was introduced to Myanmar through the British colonial interval is Rohingya. After Independence, in 1948, Myanmar refused citizenship to the Rohingya. Initially, residents with households, who had lived in Myanmar for a minimum of two centuries, have been allowed to apply for citizenship. After the army coup in 1962, the Myanmar authorities began issuing international id playing cards to them.
In 1982, a brand new citizenship legislation was handed, which didn’t recognise Rohingya as one of many nation’s 135 ethnic teams as a result of they’d sided with the British who have been looking for to overthrow the colonial rule. This rendered the Rohingya stateless.
The neighborhood strikes from one place to one other, principally illegally. They are additionally accused of crimes akin to rape and homicide, drug trafficking, girls and youngsters trafficking, human trafficking.
THE ASSAM POLICE CRACKDOWN
In February 2023, the Karimganj District police intercepted a bunch of Rohingya heading to Delhi by practice. The investigation revealed a much bigger plot.
Assam DIG Partha Sartha Mahanta on Wednesday stated it was revealed that the Indo-Bangladesh Border in Tripura and West Bengal are the entry factors facilitated by a community of touts in Bangladesh and India. The Special Task Force led by the Assam DIG managed to apprehend and seize touts with pretend paperwork.
Mahanta said, “The preferred destinations via Assam are Delhi, Jammu, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kerala. They mostly move in trains and buses, which makes it difficult to detect them. There is a demand for cheap labour, which the touts help fulfil.”
“After the Assam CM started monitoring, we ramped up our operations. We intensified checking at international and inter state borders, checking trains and buses coming from border areas. So far, the Assam police have detected 137 Rohingya and 304 Bangladeshis entering illegally. All of them have been sent back with assistance of the BSF,” he added.
Mahanta added, “In a major operation recently, the Assam STF cracked down on illegal Rohingya immigrants, arrested nine persons from Tripura and three touts, including 2 Bangladeshi nationals, from Tripura and one from Assam. Two cases were registered. One was taken up by the NIA. Subsequently, in a joint operation, 47 touts were arrested in the country, the highest (25) in Tripura, followed by Karnataka with 9 arrests. This has been the biggest crackdown on Rohingya in India. “
Further, the National Crime Records Bureau, in its latest report, has highlighted a 50% drop in crime rate in Assam compared to 2021. A significant drop has also been witnessed in crime rates against women and children, reflecting the state government’s commitment to tackle crime through several reforms in policing.
The Assam CM stated that the new data can be dubbed as a turnover for the state. “I am sure by 2023, when the NCRB data will be released, our position will improve. This is the first time, probably since 1979, that we have seen a turnaround.”
