Now this is interesting, coming from BB! Would be very interested in knowing more about the massacre of Buddhists in ancient times. Is that how Hinduism came back into the Brahmaputra valley? Bengal had the Palas and Senas to bring back Hinduism.
Now for the BB comment - "Aryans for a Nazi..." - now is that what you term the current vigilantism as? A Nazi solution? Is that because it is Bangladeshis being hounded out? As opposed to Biharis? And given BB's inclinations, am I surprised?? Weren't Bihari laborers also lynched in Dibrugarh sometime back? There is a movie called "A day without a Mexican" available in Blockbuster. A satire about how society will come to a halt in California if the Mexicans vanish. I guess we will find that happening in Assam. --- Bartta Bistar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: --------------------------------- Thousands of Bangladeshis flee Assam http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories.php?part=news&Story_ID=05206 Reuters Guwahati May 19: Thousands of Bangladeshis have fled Assam following threats by anonymous groups against migrants and a campaign asking locals not to employ foreigners, officials and residents said. The unidentified groups in Dibrugarh district have circulated leaflets and sent text messages on mobile phones in the past week, warning Bangladeshi nationals to leave immediately or face unspecified action. Mobile phones in Assam are being flooded with text messages saying, “Save the nation, save identity. Let’s take an oath ... no food, no job, no shelter to Bangladeshis” while leaflets seeking an “economic blockade” of the migrants are also being distributed. “Many labourers working in brick kilns, rickshaws pullers and construction workers have fled in the past one week due to the threat,” said Mr P C Saloi, superintendent of police in Dibrugarh. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of illegal Bangladeshi migrants have swamped the tea-growing and oil-rich state in search for work and food. Over two years ago, the government estimated there could be up to 20 million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India, and labeled some of them a security risk. In the early 1980s, the powerful All-Assam Students Union launched a bloody campaign to push Bangladeshis back to their homeland. Thousands of Bangladeshis, including women and children, were massacred across the state by indigenous people who feared they would be reduced to a minority in their own land. The government and the students union signed a pact in 1985, but clauses on the deportation of foreigners have still not been implemented. The campaign against the Bangladeshis has mushroomed into a full-fledged uprising against New Delhi’s rule and many rebel groups are still battling for independence. India has fenced parts of the 4,000-km border with Bangladesh, but officials say this has done little to deter migrants bent on leaving one of the world’s poorest countries. Assam shares a 272 km porous border with Bangladesh, a vast stretch of which is unfenced. “Fencing along the border with Bangladesh in this sector has started to prevent illegal infiltration,” said the Union Home Secretary, Mr V K Duggal. “Legal and judicial measures have also been adopted to deport illegal Bangladeshi settlers from the country.” The lush paddy fields and the sandy, shifting plains of the mighty Brahmaputra river that divides the countries are natural transit routes. Hundreds take rickety boats across the river, which at some places is 15 km wide, into India. The migrants become farmhands or river fishermen in villages. In towns they are often construction workers or rickshaw pullers, and the women work as maids. Since the latest campaign against Bangladeshis began, rickshaw pullers in Assam have gone off the road, maids have stopped coming to work and there is a shortage of eggs and chickens as most vendors were Bangladeshi. Brick kilns have been closed due to shortage of labor. Though there are no officials figures of actual numbers of Bangladeshis in Assam, locals say their population could be six million of the state’s 26 million people. “Every day around 6,000 illegal infiltrators cross the border and enter the state,” said an intelligence official in Guwahati. The police said most of the fleeing Bangladeshi have now moved to districts close to the border with Bangladesh. “The police have been put on maximum alert and instructions have been given that no genuine citizens are harassed and no communal clashes take place in disturbed areas,” said the state Home Minister, Mr Rockybul Hussain. --------------------------------- Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! 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