Pak Supporters in Assam

With about a dozen persons arrested in Assam on charges of treason in the back drop of the recent gruesome Pahalgam massacre, Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has rightfully said that the government would apply the National Security Act (NSA) against such people. For the record, the first person arrested in Assam for pro-Pakistan comments is Aminul Islam, an MLA of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), a party known for its alleged open support for illegal migrants having roots in Bangladesh and erstwhile East Pakistan. The AIUDF party was formed soon after the Supreme Court had, in 2005, struck down the notorious Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act of 1983, an act which had always prevented detection of illegal migrants of East Pakistan and Bangladesh origin. There can be no second opinion or second thought on taking action against anyone taking a pro-Pakistan or pro-terrorist stand in the context of the Pahalgam massacre, where 28 persons were gunned down in cold blood by Islamic terrorists backed by Pakistan. Assam has to take extra precautions in comparison to other states of the country as far as such pro-Pakistani and pro-terrorist comments and opinions are concerned. The reason is that there is a large presence of people belonging to the erstwhile East Pakistan. While a section of them had entered illegally by crossing the international boundary, another section comprised several lakh refugees who had refrained from going back to their own country after India had liberated Bangladesh. Though Bangladesh has officially condemned the terror attack of Pahalgam, the fact remains that Bangladesh is currently in the clutches of forces which are inimical to India and friendlier towards Pakistan. Given the fact that there have been numerous incidents in Assam in the post-1971 period of raising of Pakistani flags, it is not surprising that there will be people supporting the terrorists in different nooks and corners of the state. It must always be kept in mind that the Supreme Court of India had described the Assam situation (the presence of lakhs of illegal migrants of East Pakistan or Bangladesh origin) as a “silent invasion”. A former governor of Assam, Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha had, in a report to the president of India in 1998, even expressed apprehension that a day was not far when the illegal migrants, owing allegiance to the country of their origin, would one day demand the merger of some border districts with Bangladesh. The current trend of things in the Siliguri Corridor is only a vindication of what Lt Gen Sinha had suspected twenty-seven years ago. This is one simple reason that some people in Assam are supporting the pro-Pakistani terrorists.