DECLARED ‘FOREIGNERS’, 28 MUSLIMS IN ASSAM SENT TO DETENTION CENTRE

Wed 04 September 2024:

Police in western Assam’s Barpeta district sent 28 Muslims declared “non-citizens” by the Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs) to a ‘transit camp’ at Matia in the Goalpara district on Monday.

All the 28 people — 19 men and nine women — belong to the Bengali Muslim community.

They were summoned from various parts of the district to the office of Barpeta’s Superintendent of Police (SP) before being herded into a bus and sent to the detention centre.

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https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22

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A video shared on social media platforms and verified by Maktoob showed family members of the FT-declared “foreigners” gathered outside the SP’s office, crying and hugging each other as some members of the same family were declared ‘foreigners’ while others were not.

Transit camp is the official term for the 3,000-capacity detention centre for FT-declared “foreigners” to be deported.

Established under the Foreigners’ (Tribunal) Order of 1964, the FTs are quasi-judicial bodies headed by members to adjudicate cases of individuals suspected to be “foreigners.” Such people are detected by the Border wing of the Assam police, whose primary job is to detect suspected “foreigners” and refer them to the FTs. Assam has 100 FTs to deal with the cases of “D (doubtful) voters” and “foreigners” living in the state “illegally.”

Two months ago, the Assam government had asked the state’s border police not to forward the cases of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Jain, and Christian people who entered India “illegally” before 2014 to the Foreigners Tribunals, citing the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.

This effectively means that Hindu Bengalis, among other non-Muslims in the state, will for now not be prosecuted by the tribunals, which are quasi-judicial bodies that adjudicate on matters of citizenship.

“If NPR-NRC happens along with Census this year, these scenes of Muslims could be seen everywhere in the nation. This is why various states, including Telangana, have opposed holding NPR-NRC along with the Census,” said Asaduddin Owaisi MP, sharing the Muslim families’ video on social media.

Just listen to the cries of these Muslims whose family members were sent to detention camp in Assam. While other communities are given citizenship under CAA, Muslims are being sent to detention camps. pic.twitter.com/dnWOTMbPnO

— Aasif Mujtaba (@MujtabaAasif) September 3, 2024

The NRC is a register that is meant to identify and deport “illegal” immigrants. Assam published a National Register of Citizens on August 31, 2019. Residents had to prove that they or their ancestors had entered Assam before midnight on March 24, 1971, in order for them to be included in the list.

The Citizenship Amendment Act aims to fast-track Indian citizenship for refugees from six minority religious communities, except Muslims, from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the condition that they have lived in India for six years and have entered the country by December 31, 2014.

Combined, the CAA and NRC could allow the government to expel all of those deemed “illegal” migrants – and then allow Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians to re-enter, while denying the same opportunity to Muslims.

The BJP has declared its intent to implement the NRC nationwide.