Five Bangladeshis pushed back for infiltration attempt: Assam CM

Guwahati, April 17 (IANS) Assam Police have foiled an attempt by Bangladeshi infiltrators and pushed back at least five citizens of the neighbouring country as they illegally entered Indian territory. 

Five Bangladeshi citizens tried to enter Assam through the international border at the Sribhumi district, and the security personnel foiled the attempt.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said, “Crackdown on illegal infiltration continues @sribhumipolice intercepted and pushed back 5 illegal infiltrators to Bangladesh early this morning.”

Five Bangladeshi citizens were identified as Abdulla, Ansarulla, Roshid Ahammed, Muhammad Kalim Mulla and Happy Seikh.

The Chief Minister also mentioned that the state police have been put on high alert 24/7 to secure our borders.

Earlier, the Chief Minister said: “We have put the security forces on high alert at the international border following the unrest in Bangladesh to check infiltration. The police have detected a good number of illegal immigrants on a daily basis along the international border; however, no Hindu infiltrator from Bangladesh was arrested in the last five months.”

Sarma argued that the Hindu community people have immigrated from Bangladesh 30 or 40 years ago, and the rest of the people have been living in the neighbouring country for different reasons.

“Most of the Hindu community people who had the desire to cross the border and come to India had come here 30 or 40 years ago. The rest of the minority people have been living in Bangladesh despite facing large-scale atrocities in the neighbouring country. I guess they have their own reasons for staying there - maybe a love for the soil or patriotism towards Bangladesh,” he said.

Sarma also stated that the Bangladeshi infiltration spiked up in the last few months due to the collapse of the textile industry in the neighbouring country, leaving many jobless there.

He stated that the economy of Bangladesh has collapsed due to unrest, and the majority of the community people were more affected than the minority section.

“So far, we have arrested around 1000 Bangladeshi people in the last few months. They were pushed back immediately after their arrest,” said the Chief Minister.

He also attributed the illegal infiltration to incentives offered by a few textile industry owners in India.