Despite intense media brouhaha about several members of the family of Moulavi Muhammad Amiruddin, the first Deputy Speaker of the Assam Legislative Assembly being served notice to prove their citizenship, a Foreigners’ Tribunal in Assam has now declared his grand nephew Rafikul Islam a ‘foreigner’. The order was passed on July 30, 2018… the same day as the National Register of Citizens (NRC) final draft was declared.
When a CJP team visited Assam in June 2018, we met several of MM Amiruddin’s family members. At that time 10 of them faced an uncertain future as their citizenship was being questioned despite their stellar pedigree. Now that number has gone up to 14!
Who was Moulavi Muhammad Amiruddin?
Moulavi Muhammad Amiruddin was a freedom fighter and the first Deputy Speaker of the Assam assembly (1937-1946). After independence, he became a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC). MM Amiruddin was especially respected for his strong stand against the Muslim League’s political ploy to merge Assam with East Pakistan.
Moulavi Mohammed Amiruddin’s name in the list of speakers in the Assam assembly
Even today his entire family including sons, nephews and grandsons, is highly respected by their fellow villagers who all turned up in solidarity when they discovered that the credentials of members of such an illustrious family have been questioned. When we met the family in June 10 of them had received notices about their citizenship. Today 14 members of this family are being forced to prove that they are indeed Indian, this despite having documents going back to 1919!
“If we are foreigners, so is everyone else,” thunders a livid Abdul Kadir who received a notice in April, 2018. His elderly father Mia Baksh was summoned to the police station in Solmari village, but let go after questioning when he produced documents of land ownership and revenue receipts. Abdul Kadir suspects the hasty and haphazard manner in which the NRC update was conducted was a deliberate attempt to keep out names of members of the minority community. “Musalmanon ko bahar nikalne kisaazish hai yeh,” he says.
Members of MM Amiruddin’s family show their citizenship documents
FT Order in the matter of Rafikul Islam (Page-1)
FT Order in the matter of Rafikul Islam (Page-2)
FT Order in the matter of Rafikul Islam (Page-3)
FT Order in the matter of Rafikul Islam (Page-4)
FT Order in the matter of Rafikul Islam (Page-5)
Concerns about functioning of Foreigners’ Tribunals
Concerns about the implementation of the NRC update have also been heightened by the increasing number of persons declared to be foreigners by Foreigners’ Tribunals. Out of a total of 468,934 referals to the Tribunals between 1985 and 2016, 80,194 people were declared foreigners. This figure increased drastically in 2017, reaching 13,434 in just eleven months. In this context, it is reported that members of Foreigners’ Tribunals in Assam experience increasing pressure from State authorities to declare more persons as foreigners. On 21st June 2017, 19 members of the Foreigners’ Tribunals in Assam were dismissed on ground of their under-performance over the last two years. More than 15 additional Tribunal members were issued with a strict warning to increase their efficiency. Considering that tribunal members serve on a contractual basis for two years, which may be extended on a needs and performance basis, these actions were perceived to be a thinly veiled threat to other Tribunal members.”