Staff Reporter
Dimapur, March 18
The Muslim Council Dimapur (MCD) has urged Governor P B Acharya to address the issue of Illegal Bangladeshi Immigrants (IBI) in the State.
The MCD submitted a memorandum to the Governor on Wednesday evening when the latter paid a visit to the historic Old Jame Masjid at Haji Park, Dimapur. The octogenarian, who also holds the additional charge as Governor of Assam and Tripura, was on his way to Guwahati.MCD urged him to pressurize the Government of Nagaland to create a platform wherein the issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants can be clearly addressed and discussed with all intellectual people, NGOs and student bodies and also create and effective Government authority to verify one’s citizenship.
The MCD said that handling of IBI issue by different organizations in different ways has created more confusion and expressed concern that the upcoming generation in Nagaland might be made to believe that all Muslims are of Bangladeshi origin. The memorandum signed by MCD president, A Hannan Tapadar and working president, A Rahman, stated that the MCD wants the Muslim community to live with dignity and honour as well as maintain harmony and peace with local Naga brothers and sisters.
It further stated that the March 5 incident in Dimapur has proved the need to formulate laws to regulate the flow of migrants and all communities to Nagaland. Advocate Sharif Ahmed suggested for setting up of Foreign Tribunals in all districts to check illegal immigrants.
The meeting was attended by various NGOs including Western Sumi Hoho, Dimapur Citizens Forum and representatives from other organizations.
Meanwhile, addressing the gathering of about 400 people, the Governor assured that the genuine Muslims in Dimapur have equal rights and they would be provide all kind of help. However, he said that the Muslim Council should see that illegal Bangladeshi are identified and driven out from Nagaland.
Referring to the March 5 incident, the Governor said it was a shameful incident, which was ‘wrong’.
The Governor said that people should not give religious colour to such incident. He said the government is also part of this problem and will take all measures to resolve it. He said the government has already constituted a judicial inquiry committee to probe into it.
He further said criminals have no religion. It is not good to make an issue by taking the name of one religion or the other. India is a democratic and secular country, where every religion is given equal respect and even an atheist gets equal respect in this country, he added.
The Governor, while terming Dimapur as mini India, said that people from all parts of the country come here for different reason. Those who have come to Nagaland, they have been working hard, he said but, the governor also urged the people to work hard and contribute to the development of the society.
