Illegal Immigration in India�s North-East: Perennial Problem

The ‘Bangladesh factor’ is an important issue in north-east India due to illegal migration from Bangladesh. The process to check illegal migration in the north-east, which started during the British Empire, remains unfinished despite various efforts made at the national and state levels.

When the British occupied the north-east, it was largely uninhabited due to rivalries amongst the local tribes and massacres. Initially, under the British, the immigrant population from neighbouring regions like Bengal, Bihar and Nepal were welcomed and were considered useful for the development of the region. But soon immigrants were seen as encroachers on their lands and reserve forest that affected demography and ecology of the area. Subsequently, in 1920 the British introduced Inner Line System to restrict immigrants, mostly Bengali Muslims. However, it remained ineffective. In fact, better economic prospects, shortage of local labour and absence of sufficient mechanism have always been the reason for this influx.

When the British left India, north-east was not affected by the riots. However, there was uncertainty due to influx of refugees who found themselves on the other side of the border.  Consequently, large scale migration had a social, economic, political and environmental effect leading to people of the north-east voicing their concerns that took explosive dimension soon after independence. Subsequently, the Immigrant (Expulsion from Assam) Act 1950 was passed in Parliament which mentioned that only those people who were displaced because of civil disturbances in East Pakistan could migrate to India. The deportation of people caused much antipathy in Pakistan that led to a conciliatory gesture from India in the form of Nehru-Liaquat Ali Khan Agreement of 8 April 1950. The Agreement allowed return of those people to India who had been deported till December 31, 1950.

However, during the Sino-Indian War of 1962, it was reported that some infiltrators were seen with Pakistani flags. This resulted in adoption of the ‘Prevention of Infiltration from Pakistan to Assam Plan (1964)’. But atrocities in East Pakistan by Pakistani Punjabis in early 1970s led to the unchecked entry of Bangladesh (then East Pakistanis) refugees into India on a large scale. Subsequently, the Indira-Mujib Agreement of 1972 redefined the status of illegal immigrants in India as it declared that all those who had come before 1971 were declared non-Bangladeshis.

The Agreement was highly resented by the natives of the north-east which resulted in large scale agitation led by the rebel groups. Consequently, enactment of Illegal Migrant (Determination by Tribunal) Act or IMDT Act came into force in 1983. The Act was meant to detect and deport illegal migrants through tribunals. As against the Foreign Act of 1946, which confers upon the Central Government certain powers in respect of entry of foreigners into India, their presence therein and their departure which is applicable to the whole country. The IMDT Act is resented by the local population of the north-east as the onus to prove that the person is an illegal immigrant rests on the litigant along with other unusual conditions attached to it.

The IMDT Act could not resolve the perennial immigrant problem in the north-east. Subsequently, the Assam Accord of 1985 was accepted. This accord fixed the cut-off date to determine illegal migrants in Assam as March 25, 1971, the day Bangladesh was born. The Accord mentioned that all those migrants who had come and settled in the state on or before this date shall be regarded as citizens and those illegal migrants who are found to have arrived in the state after this date are to be detected and expelled in accordance with the law. With the signing of the Assam Accord, the rebel groups launched a militant struggle against the government as they asked government to revoke the Accord and instead enact a law that deports all illegal immigrants irrespective of their time of immigration.

As a matter of fact, soon after the signing the Assam Accord, the Bangladeshi Muslims who had initially identified themselves as Assamese speaking started registering themselves as Bengali speaking. It has been alleged over the years that the leadership of various political parties have supported illegal immigration of Bangladeshi nationals because they constitute themselves as committed voters for such leadership. These immigrants were clandestinely provided with ration cards and their names were included in the voters’ list. Subsequent election results, that have brought in considerable immigrant Muslim population in the state legislative assembly, have reflected the growing overall clout of the Bangladeshi immigrants. Recently, Assam’s former Governor, Lt Gen. (Retd.) S.K. Sinha mentioned that if unabated infiltration of foreigners is allowed to continue, the situation in Assam will be worse than that of Kashmir in days to come and one should not be surprised if a Bangladeshi national manages to become the Chief Minister of the State.

In fact, the overall Muslim population of the area has grown from 16 to 18 per cent in 1950s and 1960s to over 40 per cent now. Additionally, the demographic imbalance in the north-east can be understood by comparing the annual and decadal population growth rate of India and Assam reflects an astonishing figure.

Finally, the IMDT Act was challenged in courts which led the Supreme Court of India to set aside IMDT Act in 2005. The Supreme Court was of the view that IMDT Act “has created the biggest hurdle and is the main impediment or barrier in the identification and deportation of illegal migrants”.

However, Bangladeshi infiltration remains unchecked and illegal immigration continues to be a sensitive issue, exploited by vested political interests. It is widely believed that Islamic militancy has been consolidating because of unabated Bangladeshi immigration. There are 12 to 15 extremist organisations working in the region. Some of these organisations are directly raised by Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), and thus, are the most fanatical with a clear anti-Indian stance.

To conclude, despite the serious demographic, economic, security and political ramifications of the illegal immigrants in the north-east, these developments continue to remain substantially outside the realm of the security discourse in the country. Meanwhile, the Bangladesh government claims that there is not a single Bangladeshi migrant in India. Additionally, deportation policy may seem ‘un-implementable’ and can be regarded as ‘callous practice’ raising international criticism particularly when the deported population is not accepted by the Bangladeshi government which demands them to prove their Bangladeshi nationality.

A decade of agitation by North-east rebel groups, both peaceful and violent over the illegal foreign national issue, has not brought concrete success. Further, unresolved border problem of enclaves and adverse possessions along with the difficult terrain keep the border porous and open for easy infiltration. Additionally, the recent mutiny by Bangladesh Rifles has also made the borders porous and unguarded on the Bangladesh side, thus making illegal migration from there much easy.

Illegal migration will remain a security challenge for India if no concrete actions are taken,  including deporting and checking illegal immigration. Border security and border management on India’s eastern border needs to be looked upon as an important national security issue.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the views either of the Editorial Committee or the Centre for Land Warfare Studies).