Names of many jawans from a village in Barpeta have not appeared in National Registry of Citizens

A village in Barpeta district of Assam is known as the Fauji Gaon or the village of defence personnel. Almost 200 families live in this village, out of which over 20 jawans have been posted in Army and paramilitary forces.

Names of many jawans from this village have not appeared in the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) list that was published on August 31.

Some members of Dilbar Hussain's family have not found their names in the NRC list. Dilbar Hussain is serving in the Army, while his younger brother Mizanur Ali is in CISF. Names of both Mr Hussain and Mr Ali have not appeared in the citizens' list. However, Saidul Islam's name has appeared in the list. Mr Islam is the eldest brother of Mr Hussain, who is a subedar in Army and had fought in the Kargil War.

Talking about the citizenship issue, Mr Hussain said, "We fight enemies. We regard our Army family first, but we are deeply disheartened after the release of the final list of NRC. There we are Army jawans, but here at home we are fighting to get Indian citizenship."

CISF jawan Mizanur Ali showed his dissatisfaction over the NRC process. "At the time of verification, they said that I am an intruder and came from Bangladesh in 2003. How is this possible? District superintendent of police verified my candidature when I had to join the CISF."

Same is the case with jawan Azit Ali. His name was repeatedly missing in the first and second list and it did not appear in the final list too. Talking about his family, he said that everyone at home is tensed.

"After the final list, my father cried. My family is not speaking, but are thinking why have they been almost declared foreigners. What should they do? Shall we fight enemies on borders or solve this issue back at home," he said.

All the men of the village want this issue to be resolved as soon as possible. All of them feel that the jawans are the pride of the village.

"This is a village of faujis. We don't know why the names have been dropped. Now, the government should do something for them immediately," said villager Babul Khan.