Generally speaking, the BSF need to answer
http://www.sentinelassam.com/
June 4, 2005
Who says that His Excellency often wakes up before dawn, drives off in his motorcade to play golf, dragging, in the process, a whole lot of cops from their slumber, and does nothing substantial? Assam Governor Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh, one must know, is engaged in deliberations and writing reports on the most talked about issue in Assam for the past 25 years: the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migration. Aside from varying viewpoints, this issue has been electing and demolishing
political parties during the polls in Assam, and rankling everybody who thinks these intruders can, sooner than later, outnumber the indigenous people in their own land.
It is this issue that Governor Singh decided to highlight at the Governors� conference that President Kalam was to preside over a couple of months ago, but got deferred as the President was indisposed. The media, after the meeting got postponed, published reports quoting Governor Singh�s �secret� note that 6,000 Bangladeshis were entering �Assam� every day. The Governor was supposed to have quoted �border officials�, indicating that he had arrived at the figure of 6,000 from these officials. Much later, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi sought to refute the Governor�s claim saying it was �not based on facts.�
Raj Bhavan in Guwahati had all along maintained a stony silence on the issue. But, after the Chief Minister locked horns with the former general, the Governor decided to clarify matters. In an interview to UNI, Governor Singh said that he was misquoted by the media. He said he had not suggested that 6,000 Bangladeshis were entering Assam each day. The Governor told UNI, according to the report by the news agency, that 6,000 Bangladeshis were entering the country every day, and not just Assam. And this, he said, was based on �information of the border officials.�
To my mind, it�s immaterial whether that number of Bangladeshis are entering Assam alone or are sneaking in to other parts of the country each day. What is important here is the Governor�s conclusion, based on �information from border officials�, that 6,000 Bangladeshis, as he clarified later, are entering India every day. Now, this has been stated by the Governor of a State, not by some unnamed or unidentified intelligence officials. Therefore, it is supposed to carry weight.
And, from where has the Governor arrived at this figure of 6,000? As he has said and stated in �black and white�, from �border officials.�
We shall go by Governor Singh�s clarification, not by the initial media reports. Take a look at the UNI report that quoted the Governor�s note as saying: "India and Bangladesh have a common border of 4,096 kilometres, passing through riverine and low-lying areas in West Bengal, Assam and hilly terrain in Tripura, Mizoram and Meghalaya. This is literally one of the world�s most fluid borders, crossed daily, border officials say, by some 6,000 Bangladeshis who come in search of
work, often staying on to join the estimated 20 million illegal immigrants that are already there in the country..."
Now that the �border officials� have told the Governor that 6,000 Bangladeshis are entering India daily, it is a clear admission of their failure in preventing this influx of aliens. And, since Governor Singh has clarified that he was talking of 6,000 Bangladeshis entering India every day, and not just Assam, it is clear that this is a serious national problem, not just a problem in Assam. And since it is the Border Security Force (BSF) that is responsible for guarding the Indo-Bangladesh border, the force ought to come up with an explanation. And now that the BSF chief, R.S. Mushahary, happens to belong to Assam, an answer must come quickly, along with measures to check the inflow of aliens from across the border. After all, �border officials� cannot be expected to come up with an estimate of illegal migrants entering the country every day and do nothing about it. (Feedback: [EMAIL PROTECTED])
