Bangladeshis in Meghalaya

A statement issued by the Border Security Force from its Meghalaya headquarters on Thursday has brought to light something on which the government has been generally on a denial mode. The BSF statement said that its troops have apprehended four Bangladeshi nationals who had not only managed to sneak into Meghalaya, but had also tried to smuggle out, among all things a huge quantity of beef. The apprehension of the four Bangladeshi infiltrators has also proved that there are Indian citizens on this side who are hand in glove with them and running joint cartels to carry out trans-border crimes of all natures, the most important being smuggling of goods from India. The BSF statement said its troops, on carrying out a search in the Tata Spacio vehicle – which had a Meghalaya registration number – found at least 300 kg of beef and Bangladeshi currency of Taka 6025 from the possession among other things. The BSF has also confirmed that the four Bangladeshis – namely Noor Islam, Abdul Kalam, Shwel Ahmed and Kamal Miya – hailed from two different districts, Sylhet and Netrakona, of the neighbouring country. What has been revealed during interrogation of the smugglers – the fifth was an Indian called Samiwell Lyngdoh of West Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya – had sneaked in to meet Indian smugglers for a deal of cattle consignment. But, after getting possession of the cattle they found that all the animals were not in a condition to be smuggled through the rough and rugged terrain as several of them were injured. Hence they slaughtered a few of the cattle and were transporting the beef towards the international boundary when they were caught red-handed. Though the exact number of Bangladeshis apprehended by the Border Security Force in the Northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura in the past one year is not immediately known, it is a fact that the number will be quite high. This is despite the government’s denial that infiltration from Bangladesh is a thing of the past and that there has not been any significant spurt in infiltration in the recent years. A glance through media reports based only on BSF press notes would reveal that no less than 100 Bangladeshis were apprehended during 2018 in Meghalaya alone. While some of them were smugglers, most had sneaked in definitely with the intention of either finding work in the illegal coal mines of Meghalaya, or moving onward to Assam. Moreover, the Bangladeshi infiltrators are both Muslims as well as Hindus. On December 6 last year, for instance, the BSF had apprehended a group of eleven Bangladeshi infiltrators in South Garo Hills district, and all of them were Hindus who were heading for Assam.