GUWAHATI: The

government has ordered a crackdown on

believed to have been settled systematically by a network of sympathizers in minority-dominated districts of the state in large numbers.

Finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said, “We have been able to arrest only those who have been detected so far. We fear there could be more who have come in multiple streams and we do know how many of them are settled here now. We have asked our police force to detect each and every one of them as the top priority.”.

He said since the detection of the first

Muslim in the state in 2009, infiltration from Myanmar has been on.

“Very recently, when the state machinery was focused on the unrest in the state (following the protests against Citizenship Bill), there has been a systematic effort to settle the Rohingya Muslims, who have been either living in the three

camps set up by India in Telengana, Delhi and Jammu, or infiltrated from across the border,” Sarma said.

He added, “Certain organisations are making concerted efforts to push Rohingya Muslims into Assam and a network has developed to raise donations for them.”

Sarma said police have arrested 75 Rohingya Muslims in the state so far, who are either in judicial custody or in detention camp in Goalpara jail or have been repatriated. He added that there is no designated camp for Rohingya in Assam.

“Most of these Rohingya Muslims have been detected and arrested in Hojai, Lumding, Cachar and Karimganj districts. These are the districts where the demography has drastically changed and the indigenous Assamese people are being pushed into oblivion,” Sarma said.

The biggest batch of Rohingya Mulsims was arrested in Karimganj district on January 21, he said. Asked if these Rohingya Muslims can stay in Assam with refugee identity cards, Sarma said, “India does not recognise any such identity granted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Only the Indian government is the competent authority to issue such refugee certificate, which is acceptable,” he said.

He added that the first Rohingya was arrested in 2009 in Assam and till 2013, there were many cases of detection and apprehension. But from 2013 to 2017, there were no detection. He accused the then Congress government of not making any statement on this outside or inside the assembly.