Notification on minority migrants: AASU moves SC

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, March 2: The All Assam Students Union on Wednesday filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Central government's notification which seeks to regularize the stay of minority refuges from Bangladesh and Pakistan.

In its petition, the students' body contended the notification, issued on September 7 last year, violates the law of the land.

"The notification was issued for political benefit. The State government also supported it for the sake of bloc votes," it said.

Insisting that the notification is against the interest of indigenous people of Assam, the AASU pointed to the Assam Accord which did not categorize immigrants on religious lines.

"The Hindu-Bengali migrants cannot be seen through a different law. India is a secular country," the AASU said in its petition, seeking scrapping of the notification.

AASU president Dipanka Kumar th and general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi reiterated that no immigrant entering Assam after 1971 will be allowed to stay in the State.

The NDA government in September last year had decided to allow minority refugees from Bangladesh and Pakistan to stay in this country even after expiry of their visas 'on humanitarian grounds'.

The decision has been taken under Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and Foreigners Act, 1946, it said.

The notification sparked protests in Assam grappling with the problem of illegal migrants from Bangladesh.