GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday informed the Assembly that the state had pushed back 330 illegal immigrants over the past few months.
“We have pushed back nearly 330 people, and none have returned. This exercise will be intensified,” he said during a special one-day session.
He added that the government must be more active and proactive to safeguard Assam in light of the infiltration of “Pakistani elements and Bangladeshi fundamentalists” into the state.
“The state government has decided to enforce the Illegal Expulsion Act of 1950. People identified as foreigners by the district commissioners (DCs) will be expelled without referring their cases to the Foreigners’ Tribunal,” Sarma explained.
Sarma said a constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had recently ruled that the Illegal Expulsion Act is in force and the government can proceed under its provisions.
The minority-based opposition party, the All India United Democratic Front, recently petitioned Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya, protesting what it described as “continued” harassment of Indian Muslims under the guise of apprehending “so-called illegal foreigners” in Assam.