GUWAHATI: The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) report in which the UN, for the first time, has termed the exodus of Bangladeshis into India as "the single largest bilateral stock of international migrants" in the eastern hemisphere has provided teeth to the Assam government to fight its long-drawn case against Bangladesh, which refuses to accept its citizens deported from the state.

According to a state government official, Bangladesh has refused to take back over 29,000 persons declared as illegal migrants by foreigners' tribunals since 1985 because it does not recognize the verdicts given by India's foreigners' tribunals.

"Bangladesh does not recognize the verdicts given by India's foreigners' tribunals. Bangladesh wants an international neutral body to verify the citizenship of these persons and only if it finds them to be Bangladesh citizens, the country is ready to take them back," chief minister Tarun Gogoi said and stressed that India should sign a treaty with Bangladesh on the deportation issue.

The UN report revealed that in 2013, India was home to 3.2 million Bangladeshi residents who had migrated into the country. Though there is no state-wise break-up of the Bangladeshi migrants, the problem is most severe in Assam, where students had launched a six-year-long anti-foreigners' movement in the late Seventies. The state continues to be plagued by Bangladeshi influx, which no longer is just a demographic issue but a strong political issue too.

The state has 36 tribunals where doubtful illegal migrants from Bangladesh are tried and once found to have entered the country after March 25, 1971, the person is declared as an illegal migrant and ordered to be deported.

With Bangladesh refusing to take back its citizens, the state government in 2010 set up detention camps in Goalpara, Kokrajhar and Silchar to put persons declared as illegal migrants by foreigners tribunals in detention till they are pushed back.

After the tribunals declared them as foreigners, they are handed over to BSF for deportation. The BSF then refers them to Border Guards of Bangladesh, which refers them further to Bangladesh local police. It is only after Bangladesh Police verify the antecedents of the illegal migrant waiting deportation from India, the actual deportation takes place. But the whole process is lengthy.

In the absence of a proper laid down procedure for deportation of illegal migrants between India and Bangladesh, it has become difficult to carry out deportation. As a result, deportation of foreigners is mainly carried out through push back method, which is a stealth exercise to avoid the formalities from Bangladesh border force. In case of formal deportation, flag meetings are held between the border forces of the two countries.

