Onus lies with suspected foreigner to prove he is not foreigner: Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha

Our Correspondent

Kokrajhar: Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha (BJSM) on Wednesday called upon the organizations of different communities, including Muslim, to extend support to come up with a foreigner-free NRC in Assam.

In a statement, the working president of the BJSM, DD Narzary said some organizations had been opposing the ongoing process of claims and objections of final NRC saying that the genuine citizens were being harassed in the process. He said the alleged harassment was not based on fact and leaders of some organizations of the minority community were raising such baseless allegations. He also said the government should ensure foreigner-free NRC based on 1951 as cut-off year and baseless objections should not be given attention.

Narzary said the NRC was meant for the detection of foreigners coming from East Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and other countries but despite this fact, the indigenous communities of the State had been cooperating in the process of NRC. In such a way, people of all communities who were claiming themselves to be citizens of the State should cooperate in the process of NRC instead of making objections. He also alleged that some suspected nationalities had been opposing the process of NRC and creating confusion among the people and they should be dealt with firmly.

On the other hand, the president of the BJSM, Janaklal Basumatary in a separate press statement said that the onus lay with the suspected foreigner to prove that he/she was not a foreigner. “It is the responsibility of the authority to verify the documents of the suspected foreigner under complaint,” he said.

Basumatary said the NRC was not IMDT proceeding and so the objector was not responsible to prove his/her complaint. “Onus lies with the suspected foreigner to prove he is not foreigner under the provisions of the Indian Foreigner Act and Citizenship Act,” he added. The BJSM leader said the claim by members of Mia Parishad against the AASU and other organizations for complaining against suspected foreigners was baseless, illegal and unconstitutional. He also said the Mia Parishad or AMSU or ABMSU had no legal basis to stop the complaints against suspected foreigners.

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