Arup Chanda By

KOLKATA: A Pakistani citizen is now a TMC member in the Rajya Sabha, courtesy West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee. Ahmed Hassan, aka Imran, is in fact a Pakistani citizen, since he entered India from East Pakistan in 1970-71, before the birth of Bangladesh.

In his affidavit before the Election Commission, he stated he passed Higher Secondary examinations in 1972 and is of 60 years old. However, he did not mention his citizenship, place and date of birth. Hassan, according to the intelligence agencies in both India and Bangladesh, was born in a village in Srihatta, Sylhet, in East Pakistan, and entered the country through its border with Assam, much before the birth of Bangladesh. Hassan first stayed in Dhubri in Assam, which has a strong Muslim population, but later shifted to Banarhat in Jalpaiguri district in North Bengal. His father, a “Razakar”, was responsible for killing a large number of Bengali intellectuals, while aiding the Pakistan Army during the Liberation War, intelligence reports mention.

A Special Branch report of Assam Police states, “Hassan infiltrated Assam long before the birth of Bangladesh and as such, is an East Pakistani. His father too infiltrated, but took up a job in a tea garden in West Bengal, where he was killed by freedom fighters from Bangladesh who came across the border. His visits to Assam from West Bengal were monitored and he was found to be closely linked with several organisations close to the Pakistan’s ISI.”

“He had visited the camps that were being run at Moulavi Bazar in Sylhet, in the 80s, by an ISI Major. He maintained a façade while in Assam, saying he was a Leftist, since he was settled in CPM-ruled West Bengal. But, his agenda in Assam was clear cut and to some extent, he did succeed in consolidating anti-India forces here,” it stated.

On April 24,1977, a huge conference was held at Aligarh Muslim University, where the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was born and Hassan was elected as its West Bengal president. Hassan himself admitted, “I was a member of SIMI from 1977 - 1984.”

Even after the organisation was banned by the Centre, he remained the face of the organisation, according to a report with the Ministry of Home Affairs.