‘Foreigners for both nations’: India pushing Muslims ‘back’ to Bangladesh

Assam and West Bengal, India – Ufa Ali could hardly stand.

On May 31, the 67-year-old bicycle mechanic returned to his location successful India’s northeastern authorities of Assam aft spending 4 harrowing days stranded successful Bangladesh, the neighbouring state helium claims helium had lone heard of “as a slur” since birth.

Ali’s weeklong ordeal began connected May 23 erstwhile helium was picked up by the constabulary from his rented location successful Kuyadal, a tiny colony successful Assam’s Morigaon district, during a authorities crackdown connected “declared overseas nationals” – a class of radical unsocial to Assam. The authorities is simply a tea-producing hub wherever the migration and colony of Bengali-speaking radical from neighbouring areas for much than a period has led to taste tensions with the Indigenous natives, who chiefly talk Assamese.

The tensions person gotten worse since 2016, erstwhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to powerfulness for the archetypal clip successful Assam. More than a 3rd of the state’s 31 cardinal colonisation is Muslim – the highest percent among Indian states.

Ali is among the much than 300 Muslims successful Assam “pushed back” into Bangladesh since May, according to authorities Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. “These pushbacks volition beryllium intensified. We person to beryllium much progressive and proactive to prevention the state,” Sarma told the state’s legislative assembly earlier this month.

‘Hell underneath the bluish sky’

After helium was picked up by the constabulary connected May 23, Ali was taken to a detention centre much than 200km (124 miles) distant successful Matia, India’s largest facility for undocumented migrants, successful Assam’s Goalpara district.

Three days later, astatine the ace of dawn connected May 27, soldiers belonging to India’s Border Security Force (BSF) took him and 13 others, including 5 women, successful a van to the India-Bangladesh border.

“The BSF was forcing america to transverse implicit to the different side, whereas BGB and [Bangladeshi] locals said they would not instrumentality america arsenic we were Indians,” Ali told Al Jazeera, referring to Bangladesh’s borderline force, the Border Guard Bangladesh.

Stranded successful unfastened fields astatine the no-man’s onshore betwixt India and Bangladesh, Ali’s radical spent the adjacent 12 hours successful knee-deep h2o with nary entree to nutrient oregon shelter.

A haunting representation of Ali, squatting successful the swamp, brows raised and eyes looking backmost astatine the viewer, went viral connected societal media “We saw hellhole underneath the bluish entity and we saw beingness fading distant from us,” helium told Al Jazeera.

Ufa Ali extracurricular his location successful Assam’s Morigaon territory [Arshad Ahmed/Al Jazeera]

If they tried to determination to the Indian side, the BSF soldiers threatened them with violence, Ali said.

“They changeable astatine america with rubber bullets erstwhile we begged them not to propulsion america into the different side. It was nary no-man’s onshore for us. It was arsenic if determination was nary state for us.”

Rahima Begum, 50, who was picked up successful a akin mode from eastbound Assam’s Golaghat district, says she is haunted by the memories of her clip spent successful the no-man’s land.

“I was beaten by the BGB erstwhile I tried to tally crossed to the Bangladeshi side,” she said. “I had nary escape. The BSF said they would sprout america dormant if we did not determination to the different side.”

Jiten Chandra Das, a writer from the borderline municipality of Rowmari successful Bangladesh who reported connected the incidental for a Bangladeshi newspaper, told Al Jazeera helium saw BSF officers firing rubber bullets astatine the stranded “Indian nationals”, adding that they besides “fired 4 rounds of ammunition successful the air” to unit them into the different side.

In a connection connected May 27, the BSF denied the allegation, saying it lone tried to halt Bangladeshi nationals from “unauthorised introduction into India”.

After a standoff that included aggravated interventions by Bangladeshi villagers and elder BGB officials, Ali was dropped by BGB soldiers astatine a borderline constituent successful India’s Meghalaya state, from wherever helium made his 10-hour travel backmost location done dense forests.

A May 31 study by Assam-based The Sentinel paper said the BSF received 65 purported Indian citizens from the BGB.

Several Muslims who had been pushed towards Bangladesh told Al Jazeera that astatine slightest 100 of them returned location connected their ain aft the BGB near them astatine the planetary border. Their claims could not beryllium verified independently, but astir returnees said “men successful civilian dresses” received them from the planetary enactment connected the Indian broadside and “deserted them” connected a highway.

The thrust to expel “illegal” Bangladeshis gained momentum successful India aft April 22, erstwhile gunmen allegedly linked to Pakistan killed 26 radical successful Indian-administered Kashmir’s municipality of Pahalgam, triggering renewed anti-Muslim sentiments crossed the country.

Apoorvanand, a prof of Hindi astatine the University of Delhi, told Al Jazeera the Pahalgam attack gave the BJP – which runs some the national and Assam governments – an excuse to expel susceptible Muslim groups, specified arsenic the Rohingya oregon the Bengali-speaking Muslim migrants.

“Muslim identities successful immoderate signifier are synonymous with coercion successful India nether the BJP government,” helium said. “The authorities treats Bengali Muslims arsenic amerciable Bangladeshis.”

Opposition parties and rights groups successful Assam besides allege that the government’s ongoing thrust lone targets Muslims. “They person selectively pushed retired Muslims from Matia,” Debabrata Saikia of the Congress enactment told Al Jazeera, referring to the detention centre.

BJP spokesperson Manoj Barauh denied the workout was religion-based, saying that undocumented Hindus were not pushed to Bangladesh due to the fact that they “could look spiritual persecution” successful a Muslim-majority country.

The Assam situation

Assam has seen taste and spiritual tensions for decades, the roots of which prevarication successful the British assemblage past.

In the 19th century, British colonisers developed beverage gardens crossed the hilly areas of Assam, sparking large-scale migration of Bengali-speaking workers – some Muslim and Hindu, galore from the portion presently known arsenic Bangladesh.

When the British near successful 1947, the Indian subcontinent was partitioned to make India and Pakistan, whose territory included East Pakistan, wherever astir residents spoke Bengali and not Urdu, Pakistan’s nationalist language. After much than 2 decades of a fashionable question implicit language, an India-backed rebellion successful 1971 saw East Pakistan look arsenic an autarkic nation, Bangladesh.

Today, Muslim-majority Bangladesh shares a 4,096km (2,545-mile) borderline with India, astir 260km (160 miles) of it with Assam.

Meanwhile, authorities successful Assam acceptable a cut-off day of March 24, 1971 – the time earlier Bangladesh declared independency from Pakistan – for tens of thousands of Bengali-speaking residents to beryllium they entered Assam earlier that day to assertion Indian citizenship.

Such citizenship cases are handled by Assam’s peculiar Foreigners Tribunals acceptable up crossed the state. The tribunals enactment arsenic quasi-judicial courts, empowered with declaring radical “foreigners” implicit insignificant spelling mistakes oregon inconsistencies successful authorities documents. In a 2019 report, rights radical Amnesty International said the Assam tribunals were “riddled with bias” and enactment successful “arbitrary ways”.

In the aforesaid year, Assam published a last National Register of Citizens (NRC), a database the authorities had been moving connected for decades to place “illegal” residents. The database excluded astir 2 cardinal Assam residents, astir 700,000 of them Muslims. Hundreds of these Muslims were enactment successful detention camps aft the NRC was published to beryllium forcibly deported.

Ali’s documents and individuality cards issued by the Indian authorities [Arshad Ahmed/Al Jazeera]

Ali’s sanction appears successful the NRC, but helium was inactive declared a foreigner successful 2013 by a tribunal successful Morigaon implicit alleged discrepancies successful his father’s name, Samat Ali, which appeared arsenic “Chamat Ali” and “Chahmat Ali” successful antithetic ineligible documents.

He spent 2 years successful a detention centre aft helium was stripped of his citizenship, a determination upheld by the state’s High Court successful 2014. He says helium is excessively mediocre to situation the determination successful the Supreme Court.

‘They made maine a Bangladeshi’

Many Muslims pushed towards the Bangladesh borderline person their citizenship cases pending earlier the courts. Therefore, they accidental that the authorities crackdown against them was amerciable and arbitrary. Chief Minister Sarma has admitted that his authorities brought backmost from Bangladesh “some of the radical done diplomatic channels who had pending petitions successful courts”.

Among them was Shona Banu, a nonmigratory of the Barpeta district’s Burikhamar village, who was pushed towards Bangladesh connected May 27.

“I ne'er thought the state I was calved into, and the state my parents and grandparents took commencement in, would nonstop maine to Bangladesh border,” the 59-year-old told Al Jazeera. “They made maine a Bangladeshi, but the lone clip I saw Bangladesh was erstwhile it was 10 metres [33 feet] distant from the no-man’s land.”

Khairul Islam, a superior schoolhouse teacher successful Morigaon’s Mikirbheta village, said his “forced deportation to Bangladesh felt similar a decease sentence”.

Khairul Islam says helium was declared a foreigner contempt having applicable documents [Mostafizur Tara/Al Jazeera]

Islam was declared a foreigner successful 2016, contempt his household presenting documents, specified arsenic onshore deeds from the British assemblage times, registered nether his grandfather’s name. He has challenged the tribunal’s determination successful the Supreme Court.

Islam said helium was “scarred” by the clip helium spent successful the no-man’s land. “We were treated worse than refugees. Our symptom and sufferings were connected afloat show for everyone to see,” helium said. “We were foreigners for some India and Bangladesh.”

But Nijam Ahmed, 50, was nary foreigner, according to India’s authoritative records. A motortruck operator successful Golaghat’s Jamuguri beverage property area, Ahmed’s sanction appears successful the NRC. Still, helium was dumped successful no-man’s land.

Ahmed’s son, Zahid, said helium came to cognize astir his father’s detention lone aft a viral video purportedly showed him with BGB officials.

“[We are] Indians. My gramps was successful the Second Assam Police Battalion,” Zahid said. Al Jazeera has confirmed the claim, having recovered that Nijam’s father, Salim Uddin Ahmed, served successful the authorities constabulary from the 1960s to 2001.

“Had my gramps been alive, it would person wounded him the most,” Zahid said. “A policeman’s lad was pushed to the Bangladesh border.”

‘Do not instrumentality oregon we volition sprout you’

In caller days, however, the thrust to expel alleged “illegal” Bangladeshis has dispersed to other states governed by the BJP.

Police successful Ahmedabad, the main metropolis successful Modi’s location authorities of Gujarat, said they person identified much than 250 radical “confirmed to beryllium Bangladeshi immigrants surviving illegally here”.

“The process to deport them is successful progress,” said constabulary serviceman Ajit Rajian, according to section media reports.

In neighbouring Maharashtra, India’s richest state, constabulary past period detained 7 Muslims accused of being foreigners and handed them to the BSF for expulsion to Bangladesh.

However, they were brought backmost from the borders connected June 15 aft authorities successful West Bengal, their location state, intervened, said Samirul Islam, a parliamentarian belonging to the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) party, which governs West Bengal. The AITC is simply a portion of the nationalist absorption to Modi’s BJP.

“The West Bengal constabulary and different authorities authorities informed the Maharashtra constabulary that these radical were Indian nationals from West Bengal,” Samirul Islam, who is besides the president of the West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board, told Al Jazeera. “But they were fixed to the BSF without informing the West Bengal constabulary oregon government.”

Referring to the actions of the Maharashtra police, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said successful a quality league successful Kolkata connected June 16, “Just due to the fact that they talk Bengali, they were labelled Bangladeshis and sent to Bangladesh.”

Three of those Muslims Al Jazeera talked to said that portion they were successful Maharashtra police’s custody, their families and West Bengal authorities submitted documents verifying their nationality arsenic Indians.

Miranul Sheikh and Nizamuddin Sheikh, residents of West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, were seen successful different viral video from no-man’s land.

“The BSF kept beating america connected our mode to the borderline contempt america saying we were from Murshidabad,” 32-year-old Miranul Sheikh told Al Jazeera. “But they abused us, saying: ‘Do not instrumentality oregon we volition sprout you.'”

Al Jazeera sent an email to the BSF connected June 19, seeking their comments connected the allegations. They person not responded yet.

Assam’s ‘miya’ Muslims

During their sweeping crackdown, constabulary successful Assam besides detained Abdul Hanif, a Bengali-speaking Muslim, from his location successful Golaghat’s Noajan colony connected May 25. They gave nary crushed for the detention.

“The constabulary said they volition instrumentality him aft 2 days,” Hanif’s elder brother, Din Islam, told Al Jazeera.

For Bengali-speaking Muslims successful eastbound Assam, nightly raids by constabulary are not uncommon, fixed the prevalent anti-migrant sentiments successful the state’s beverage belt. But a regular verification drive, arsenic the constabulary enactment it, led to a hopeless hunt for Hanif.

“We person gone from 1 constabulary presumption to another, asking for his whereabouts,” Din told Al Jazeera. “But the constabulary are not telling america anything.”

Hanif’s household alleges helium was picked up for being a ‘miya’ Muslim [Photo provided by his member Din Islam]

According to Din, Hanif was past seen astatine the bureau of Rajen Singh, Golaghat’s superintendent of police, with a radical of radical who were aboriginal sent to the Bangladesh border.

Hanif’s household insists helium is not a foreigner. “He has nary tribunal proceeding against him,” said Din. “He was picked up connected specified suspicions due to the fact that we are ‘miyas’.”

“Miya”, a pejorative term synonymous with being a Bangladeshi, is utilized by Indigenous Assamese to notation to Bengali-speaking Muslims.

Al Jazeera asked Singh astir Hanif’s whereabouts. “These things cannot beryllium discussed,” helium replied.

A section nonmigratory who was seen with Hanif astatine Singh’s bureau and taken to the Bangladesh borderline said their radical was divided into 2 and that Hanif had astir apt been pushed into Bangladesh.

“People person disappeared overnight,” helium said, requesting anonymity implicit fears of reprisals by the government. “He could beryllium mislaid successful Bangladesh similar many.”

Al Jazeera independently confirmed that the whereabouts of astatine slightest 10 radical forced into no-man’s onshore past period are unknown.

At slightest 4 families successful Assam person filed petitions successful the Assam High Court implicit the disappearance of their household members. At slightest 2 of these families beryllium to the Deshi community, considered Indigenous Muslims by the authorities government.

“We thought we were Indigenous Muslims, and truthful safe,” said Bakkar Ali, the lad of Samsul Ali, who had gone missing. “But it seems that nary Muslim is harmless here.”

Bakkar said his begetter is successful the custody of the Bangladesh police. Amirul Islam, a jailor successful Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district, told Al Jazeera connected June 16 that different Deshi individual, Doyjan Bibi, is successful their custody.

“The Bangladesh authorities has sent a diplomatic enactment to the Indian government, telling New Delhi that the mode the BSF is pushing radical into the Bangladeshi borderline is being done without owed process,” Faisal Mahmud, the spokesperson for the Bangladesh High Commission successful New Delhi, told Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera reached retired to India’s Ministry for External Affairs for remark connected allegations of Indian forces pushing Muslims into Bangladesh, but has received nary response.

‘Selectively pushed retired Muslims’

Angshuman Choudhury, a associated doctoral chap astatine the National University of Singapore and King’s College London, and an expert of northeast India, said the Assam government’s assertion of the “pushback” of allegedly amerciable migrants was “actually a forced expulsion”.

“Pushback means you are pushing backmost immigrants who are trying to participate your borders,” Choudhury told Al Jazeera. “What the authorities is doing successful this lawsuit is plucking retired radical and throwing them into different country.”

Chief Minister Sarma has justified the government’s actions by citing a 1950 law, which empowers the territory commissioners to expel definite undocumented migrants.

But Oliullah Laskar, a High Court lawyer and quality rights activistic successful Assam, says the instrumentality is lone meant for migrants caught “illegally” entering the Indian territory oregon those who overstay their visas.

“This enactment is not meant for radical who person been surviving successful Assam for generations and person documents fixed by the authorities authorities to beryllium their citizenship,” Laskar told Al Jazeera.

Another section lawyer, requesting anonymity implicit fears of reprisal by the government, said the authorities of Assam itself, during a Supreme Court proceeding successful February this twelvemonth connected the detention of “declared foreigners”, said that radical whose addresses successful Bangladesh were not known cannot beryllium deported.

The authorities said successful its affidavit: “It is besides humbly requested that, without the nationality verification and question permits from the overseas state concerned, these inmates cannot beryllium deported.”

Last year, the Assam authorities instructed the constabulary not to study to the tribunals cases of non-Muslims, chiefly Hindus, who entered the authorities earlier December 31, 2014 the cutoff day laid retired successful India’s arguable Citizenship Amendment Act.

The 2019 instrumentality allows expedited Indian citizenship to non-Muslims “facing spiritual persecution” successful Muslim-majority neighbouring countries if they entered India earlier that date. The instrumentality triggered deadly protests crossed India for allegedly violating India’s secular constitution, and the United Nations calls it “fundamentally discriminatory”.

“We person to amusement arsenic galore arsenic 20-30 documents to beryllium our nationality,” says an exasperated Ali. “But Hindus from Bangladesh lone person to accidental they are Hindus” to get fast-tracked Indian citizenship.

Sitting extracurricular her location successful Golaghat, Begum, the 50-year-old who was besides taken by the BSF, said she feels fto down by the state she calls her own, and wherever she was born.

“This state is mine, but I americium not of it.”