N. Murugan IAS (Rtd)
Amidst the politics with the clouds of war looming in the western border of India, the average citizen is not aware of the origin of terrorism in Bangladesh, the East Pakistan of yesteryears. The greatest weakness of Indian Government is to fight any crisis only after its emergence rather than working out prevention policies. Looking at the situation in the northeastern states, we can understand how the actions based on vote bank politics have made the constitutional structure pitiable
In Gowhati, the capital of Assam, on the 1st of January, five people died and sixty injured in three bomb blasts. Extremists made the state administration look pathetic by these attacks just three hours before the new Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram’s visit to Assam for studying the law and order situation there. Last year on 13th January, in the same place, seventeen people were injured in a similar bomb blast. Then on 17th February, one person died in bomb blast in Tezpur and on 29th June, in Banga, six people were killed in bombing. In Sirang and Tubri, bombs exploded on 15th August. On 20th September, seventeen people were injured in bomb attacks in Sivasagar. In Tin Sukiya five people died in bomb blats and fifty injured on 30th September
Bomb blats on 15th August, the Independence Day in 2008 and on 1st January, the New Year day in 2009, made the state administration and police helpless and unpromising. More over, two people died and ten injured on 9th January in a bomb explosion at Gowhati
Knowledgeable sources reveal the all these terror attacks are primarily due to free infiltration of refugees and job seekers from Bangladesh who violate Indian citizenship Act to become citizens
In November 1998, the then Assam Governor, General S.K.Sinha, sent a startling report to the President of India that from year 1951 to 1961, the population of Hindus in Assam registered an increase of 33.7% and the Muslims 38.3%. Unpredictably, from 1981 to 1991, population of Hindus grew 41.9% and that of Muslims rose 77.4% highlighting the massive penetration of Bangladeshis to India. “In four districts of Assam, Muslims have become majority. If the situation continues, the native Assamese would soon become minorities” the report said
Most of the South Indians who are not aware of the northern states may be perplexed to know that a Muslim Majority state emerges after 1947. We must note that Tiripura and Sikkim have already become so. The geographical fact is that if there had been such a state before 1947, it would have got merged with the then East Pakistan during the partition
We cannot grumble if the Muslims become majority due to fecundity and regular growth in population. But, the question before us is, how can a responsible government allow if it happens due to administrative inefficiency and vote bank politics of tolerating illegal immigration.
In 1992, based on the Governor’s request, there was an investigation by the Home Ministry and IB which revealed that about 1.5 crore Bangladeshis lived in the border States of India without citizenship. In an interview during November 2007, the BSF chief A.K.Mitra accepted the Government’s inability to control the infiltration from Bangladesh fully. He further said that eleven terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh were captured with possession of arms while crossing the border into India.
The Indo-Bangladesh border is 4095 Kilometers long with about 2979 KM along land and 1116 KM rivers. Only 66% of the border has been fenced so far. But of this only 227 KMs have search lights fitted.
