Nagaland - Yet Another Destination of Bangladeshi Illegal Immigrants
- From: nkdatta2467@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: 12 Sep 2006 11:31:11 -0700
http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_25550.shtml
Nagaland: Another Bangladeshi Destination
By M. Amarjeet Singh, SAIR 7/8/06
Better economic prospects and a shortage of local labour are compounded
by a critical absence of mechanisms to prevent such an influx. Despite
their serious demographic, economic, security and political
ramifications on a tiny state like Nagaland, these developments
continue to remain substantially outside the realm of the security
discourse in the country.
Nagaland does not share a direct land border with Bangladesh, but
illegal migrants are infiltrating into the State from Assam, with which
Nagaland shares a nearly 500-kilometre-long land border.
Areas around Dimapur town and the foothills along the Assam-Nagaland
border have emerged as the prime targets of migration, spreading
gradually thereafter into other distant locales. The very cosmopolitan
nature of the Dimapur area makes detection of illegal migrants a
difficult task. Worse, the illegal migrants are also in possession of
valid official documents like ration cards and voter identity cards
procured from the States of Assam or West Bengal, where these are
available against a small bribe. The fact that Dimapur town and its
surrounding areas are not covered under the Inner Line Permit (ILP)
system, which prohibits all non-Naga outsiders (including Indian
citizens) to settle in the area, is visibly being exploited by the
immigrants before they trickle into other areas of the State.
Once in Nagaland, the illegal migrants manage to get absorbed in widely
available occupations, including agricultural labour, domestic helps,
rickshaw pullers, manual labourers in construction sites and shop
attendants. Besides, a section among the locals patronize them by
providing land for cultivation and temporary settlements. Bangladeshis,
providing cheap labour, have become the preferred option, rather than
the relatively expensive and inadequate pool of local workers.
Accurate estimates of the numbers of illegal migrants staying in
Nagaland are not easy to come by. Available estimates vary between
75,000 and 300,000. Despite the absence of a precise figure, these
estimates underscore the magnitude of the crisis in this tiny State,
which has a total population of barely two million. Surprisingly, the
Dimapur area alone is believed to have more than 100,000 illegal
migrants. Way back in February 1999, the former Nagaland Chief Minister
and currently the Governor of Goa, S.C. Jamir said that there were
about 60,000 Bangladeshis illegally staying in Dimapur.
The continuing influx of illegal migrants has created a serious threat
of destablisation in the State, with migrants progressively usurping
the economic base of the Nagas. In major marketing areas of the State
like Dimapur, they have already secured considerable influence in trade
and commerce and this is expanding rapidly. Muslim migrants today run
almost half of the shops in Dimapur, the biggest commercial hub of the
State. In 2003, a local newspaper editorial noted succinctly, "There
is no denying the fact that on any Muslim religious day, at least half
of the shops in Kohima and some seventy five per cent in Dimapur,
remain closed. The point is that this is a clear indication of how much
the migrants have been able to make an impact on trading."
A survey conducted by the Nagaland State Directorate of Agriculture in
2003 revealed that about 71.73 per cent of the total business
establishments in the State were controlled and run by 'non-locals'
including both legal and illegal migrants. According to the report, out
of the 23,777 shops in the State, the local people own only 6,722 shops
(that is 28.27 per cent). While the report made no effort to separately
identify illegal migrants among the shop owners, there is a large body
of supplementary evidence that suggests their sizeable presence.
Illegal migrants are also acquiring land and other immovable properties
in collusions with their local sympathizers.
The impact of Bangladeshi migrants is also visible in the unstable
demographic profile of the State. With a population of 19,88,636 under
the Census of 2001, Nagaland recorded the highest rate of population
growth in India, from 56.08 per cent in 1981-1991 to 64.41 per cent in
the decade, 1991-2001. Significantly, the population growth was been
uniform throughout the State. Several areas in the Dimapur and Wokha
Districts bordering Assam have recorded exceptionally high population
growth. Wokha district, bordering the Golaghat District of Assam,
recorded the highest population growth of 95.01 per cent between 1991
and 2001, the highest figure for any district in the entire country.
Evidently, the silent and unchecked influx of illegal migrants in the
District, has played a crucial role in this abnormal growth.
Migrants marry locals to secure legal and social acceptability for
their stay in the State. As a result, a new community locally called
'Sumias' has emerged in some parts of the State. These 'Sumias'
are estimated in the several thousands and are concentrated mainly in
the Dimapur and Kohima Districts. There are rising fears among locals
that voters' list are now being doctored to accommodate the
"Sumias" as well as other migrants. These apprehensions have been
further reinforced by the fact that, as the Census 2001 records, the
population of Muslims in the State has more than trebled in the past
decade, from 20,642 in 1991 to more than 75,000 in 2001. Illegal
migrants are widely believed to account for an overwhelming proportion
of this recorded increase.
Worried by such developments the vocal Naga Students' Federation
(NSF) has sought to impose restrictions on Naga girls marrying illegal
migrants. On August 10, 2003, a Naga student leader said that the NSF
has already imposed a ban on Naga girls marrying illegal migrants from
Bangladesh. However, he also regretted the fact that the ban could not
be strictly implemented. On some occasions, the student body also
claimed to have 'deported' illegal settlers from the State.
Unfortunately, those deported reportedly came back after a brief stay
in neighbouring Assam. The State Government has also claimed to have
deported about 20,000 infiltrators between 1994 and 1997, but most of
them were again reported to have come back. In any event, such claims
of 'deportation' have little meaning as they involve nothing more
than dumping the illegal migrants from one Indian State to another.
The presence of large number of foreign nationals has also created a
vulnerable constituency for exploitation by hostile Bangladeshi and
Pakistani Intelligence services. The threat has been further compounded
with the emergence of several Islamist extremist groups in the region,
who secure support from Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence and
the Bangladeshi Directorate General of Forces Intelligence.
The debate on migration from Bangladesh has been politicized in the
past, contributing directly to demographic destabilization in Nagaland
and the wider Northeastern neighbourhood. Successive Central and State
Governments have proved ineffective in formulating workable measures to
stop the flow of illegal migrants into the country in general and the
Nagaland in particular, and this neglect is extracting an increasing
price in social, economic and security terms as time goes by, and
threatens to secure the dimensions of a major internal security crisis
in the foreseeable future.
===================================================================
Bangladeshi Illegal Immigrants In Pakistan !!
http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/78856/1/
OneWorld South Asia
Tue., Feb. 10, 2004
Illegal Immigrants Fear Registration Means Exit in Pakistan
By Ahmad Naeem Khan
LAHORE, Feb 10 (OneWorld) - As Pakistani authorities stand accused of
harassment and torture of illegal immigrants - who number more than 3.3
million - a decision by nodal body - the National Aliens Registration
Authority (NARA) - to register all such persons and send their details
to the police and home departments is being viewed with mistrust.
One third of so-called aliens in the country comprise Bengalis and most
of them live in the southern port city of Karachi.
Last week, after hearing a petition by 28 Bangladeshi immigrants, the
High Court in the southern Sindh province directed officials to deal
with them in accordance with the law.
The petitioners said they originally belonged to East Pakistan (now
Bangladesh) and had settled in Karachi long before the last
dismemberment of Pakistan in the 1971 India-Pakistan war and the
emergence of Bangladesh.
According to the petitioners, they were citizens of Pakistan by any
definition and could not be treated as aliens or compelled to register
with NARA.
They said they possessed all the genuine documents of nationality and
were registered with the National Database and Registration Authority.
Yet they were being harassed by the personnel of the Bangladesh cell of
a law enforcement agency and being forced to re-register with NARA.
On behalf of the provincial government, an additional advocate-general
assured the court that no action would be taken in violation of the law
and no one would be harassed.
But the Bengalis are a frightened and traumatized lot. Says 35-year-old
Shafiqur Rehman, a Bengali immigrant working in the fishing industry,
"I have been in Karachi for several years. The police are a major
problem as they extort money and those of us who can't pay are tortured
and kept in illegal confinement."
Rehman has applied for the alien registration card as he believes it
will give him legal status like other Pakistani citizens. "I don't know
whether the police and other agencies will value this card but I see no
harm in getting it made. I hope the card will save me from further
harassment," he says.
Social activist Mehboob Ahmad echoes those fears. "Harassment is a tool
used by law enforcement agencies to force illegal immigrants to get
themselves registered with the authority. The aliens do not want to
register themselves with NARA, as they believe it would increase their
problems," he points out.
Ahmad believes launching a crackdown against the aliens isn't the real
solution. "There is a need to get them to register and to inform them
of its advantages. Otherwise the whole exercise would be a futile one,"
he argues.
The main hitch is the immigrants' fear that after registration they
will be deported to their country of origin. "I will never apply for
the card. It is a conspiracy against us because once we get ourselves
registered with NARA, Pakistan will deport us," says Saleemur Rehman,
who runs a barber shop in the eastern city of Lahore.
Such fears are not unfounded as NARA sources say the Pakistani
government is considering repatriation of those Bengali-speaking people
who have acquired alien registration cards by admitting they are
Bangladeshi nationals.
Sources say the government has authorized a representative of the
Interior Ministry and top ranking NARA officials to hold negotiations
with Bangladesh diplomats in this connection.
They say the former Benazir Bhutto government had also planned to
deport illegal immigrants, particularly Bengalis, and hundreds of them
were arrested in a crackdown. But they could not be deported because
the Bangladeshi deputy high commissioner in Karachi had refused to
accept them on the grounds that they held Pakistani IDs and passports.
Now the Pakistan government is keen to persuade the Bangladesh
government to accept its citizens before taking any step in this
regard.
But the Bengalis are in no mood to return. The Action Committee for
Pakistani Bengalis (ACPB) says Bengalis are lawful citizens of Pakistan
and, therefore, should not be harassed.
"We have lived in Pakistan for the last 30 to 35 years and our present
generation was born, nurtured and grown here. They should never be
considered aliens," said an ACPB statement.
The statement said their community had also contributed to the
development of Pakistan, but ironically they were being treated like
untouchables. "We are not being provided IDs, passports, jobs or
education, not even the basic necessities of life such as water, gas
and phone," it said.
A report prepared by former Inspector General of Police Afzal Shigri,
observed that from 1974 to 1995, a total of 11,169 aliens were
prosecuted in the courts and 1,975 were deported.
For his part, NARA director Mazhar Ali Shaikh says there are several
reasons why people are reluctant to register themselves. Some are
afraid of being arrested by the police, while others believe they are
Pakistanis because they were born in this country.
According to the 1951 Citizenship Act, an immigrant has to register
with the Pakistani government to become a citizen, says Shaikh. The Act
was amended in 1978 for those Bengalis who did not opt for Bangladesh
when it came into being.
They were required to apply to register themselves with their nearest
magistrate for a citizenship certificate.
Shaikh claims that illegal foreigners should not be afraid of NARA, as
their registration with the authority will qualify them for
naturalization and citizenship.
They will have a better life once they register with this authority, he
assures.
===================================================================
Bangladeshi Illegal Immigrants Deported From Siberia !!
http://english.pravda.ru/region/2002/11/13/39457_.html
Pravada
November 13, 2002
11 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants deported from Novosibirsk
Eleven citizens of Bangladesh have been deported from Novosibirsk after
they had been detained at the local airport for border violations.
RIA Novosti learnt from the press service of the south east regional
department of the Russian Federal Frontier Service that the illegal
immigrants had arrived from Dubai (the United Arab Emirates) and were
detained when passport control officers suspected the legitimacy of
their visas.
Verification procedures showed that the citizens of Bangladesh had
received their visas from certain Moscow firms that did not have
licences to issue the necessary invitations. Moreover, the passport
details of the majority of the detainees also did not correspond to
their visas.
The immigrants were to meet a middleman who would send them via Moscow
to Europe.
The press service of the regional Frontier Service department reported
that the illegal immigrants had already been deported to the United
Arab Emirates.
===================================================================
http://www.queensu.ca/samp/migrationnews/article.php?Mig_News_ID=2909...
Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique
April 10, 2006
Bangladeshi illegal immigrants arrested, (Agencia de Informacao de
Mocambique, 2006-04-10):-The Mozambican police have arrested 66
suspected illegal immigrants, including a six year old child, all of
Bangladeshi nationality, in the northern port of Nacala, reports
Monday's issue of the daily paper "Noticias".
The arrests, made on Saturday, were possible thanks to denunciations
made by traditional authorities in the outlying coastal locality of
Quissimanjulo, who found it strange that a group of people of Asian
origin had disembarked from a boat in that region. The police found
that all of them had entry visas in their passports, supposedly issued
by the Mozambican High Commission in Swaziland - but there was no sign
that the group had passed through Swaziland. Instead they came on a
ship straight from Bangladesh to Madagascar, where they stayed for four
months before heading for northern Mozambique. In Quissimanjulo they
waited for a vehicle to take them into Nacala, where some business
people, also of Asian origin, had promised them jobs and businesses.
The driver of the vehicle, whose name was not revealed, was also
arrested for investigation.
The Nacala maritime administrator, Daniel Sitoe, said that some of the
Bangladeshis confessed to having had contacts with business people in
Nacala to prepare their arrival in Mozambique. Others told the police
that they were coming to invest in Mozambique because some of their
co-citizens had told them of good opportunities and easy profits. Sitoe
said that the police are investigating the possibility of some business
people in Nacala being involved in an international illegal immigration
racket. The Bangladeshis possessed high tech equipment, including
mobile phones, and digital photograph and film cameras. All those
arrested were seen by a doctor in the Nacala General Hospital on Sunday
because they showed signs of physical weakness, probably because they
had gone for many hours without food. Sitoe lamented that the
authorities do not have the resources to pursue the ship which carried
the illegals. It is thought likely that it is still in Mozambican
waters.
===================================================================
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