Ashik Kabir

Before the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Bangladesh was an integral part of a simple undivided India and constituted a part of Bengal province. Since that time people have been moving from one part of the country to other for social, economic(trade), cultural and ethnic reasons. But this movement has become a problem only after India was divided in 1947 and this part became a province of Pakistan. The historical, cultural, geo-graphical and economical background have caused a plethora of problems between the two nations.
The data received from the state of Assam, is considered incorrect by many scholars, they believed that the information was manipulated because of political reasons in 1991. A United nation report has recently come up with some shocking reports. They emphasis that there is a huge rise in the population of the border district of Assam and almost one crore people are missing from the Bangladesh side from 1971-81 to 1981-91 census.
The trend of population growth of NER and the disappearance of population from Bangladesh clearly indicates a high level of population migration from Bangladesh to NER. During the last three decades a huge numbers of people has migrated from Bangladesh to India. Hindus were coming to India soon after the independence of Bangladesh. The Hindus came from Bangladesh to India because Bangladesh being a Muslim populated spread a sense of complexity among the minorities. During the Liberation period Hindus were persecuted, So they preferred to come to India rather than staying there. Contrary to this a huge number of Muslims are also coming to India, in search of work. Issues of Chakma refugees in India are also souring the relationship between the two nations.

Emergence of the problem of Illegal migration:
The migration from Bangladesh to NER has its own history. It goes to the colonial era of British rule. It was the Bristishers who brought the migrants from different part of India to Assam. Assam as the entrance of North East India attracted migrants from different part of the subcontinent. The Bengali Muslim peasants were brought by the British administration to serve their cause. The people from East Bengal started to coming from densely populated regions to the land abundant areas of Assam. Assam offered a huge opportunities for the people who can offer their hard work as they needed people to work for exploiting the abundant resources of Assam. As the British focused on the development of Assam, they needed more people to work for them as administrative officers, businessmen, contractors and labourers. So, people from Bengal started to move to Assam , in search of jobs and better living facilities.
The partition of Bengal happened in the year 1905. It was part of the British ‘Divide and rule’. This is the main reason why people from Bangladesh are illegally migrating to India. Even the migration problems are happening recently in this last four decades mostly , but the base was created during that time. The division of Bengal mainly created the communal divisions between Hindus and Muslims. After the partition there were communal riots happening everywhere in East Bengal and areas of Assam. That made the Hindus particularly from elite classes, migrate from different parts of India, especially in Assam and West Bengal.
Another issue that led to a problem was the partition of India and Pakistan. After the creation of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah had declared in the constituent assembly that Pakistan will never differentiate between Hindu and Muslim people, both of the communities will enjoy equal right in Pakistan. The majority of Pakistani elite leaders didn’t support this argument, the central leadership conceived hatred towards the Hindu community and provoked communal riots in different part of East Pakistan which is now Bangladesh. The Hindu community was terrified and they flew from those areas to India. In many of the cases the Hindu families had to leave without settling their properties. Sardar Patel had expressed his concerned to the governor of West Bengal in a letter in 1949 that the wives and daughters of Hindu families in East Pakistan are not safe at all and their properties will be seized with forced according to the sources and intelligence reports.[]
During the liberation war of Pakistan, the Pakistani army used unbearable torturing method and terrorized the minorities of East Pakistan. Because of that almost 10 million people flew from East Pakistan to West Bengal or NER. After Bangladesh became a sovereign country , Many of the refugees returned from India, but a large number of undocumented people preferred to stay back and they got mixed with the mainstream life of India. Hindus were the Zaminders in most parts of East Pakistan. After the partition of India, Pakistan, the Muslim league Government passed the Acquisition and Tenancy act in 1950. Under which none of the people or family members were allowed to hold excess of 200 bighas. Most of the Zaminders were holding more than that and they have to give their properties to the government of Pakistan. The already broken Hindu community in Pakistan became more insecure about their existence in Pakistan. They assumed more troubles are coming towards them, if they stay back in Pakistan. So, they decided to leave their claim on property and migrated to West Bengal or NER of India.
Though in the beginning Independent Bangladesh adopted the policies of secularism under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman , situations changed soon after his assassination in 1975. Military regimes one after one had strengthened the roots of Islam in Bangladesh, it brought once gain the feelings of insecurity among the people of minority Hindu community. Apart from the attacks on Minorities , enemy and vested property acts acted as an effective way to make the minorities elope from Bangladesh. One of the most burning issues between Bangladesh and India is of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) refugees. During the British period, the CHT administrative act of 1900 gave the local tribes some privileges, it gave a special status to the tribesmen as it did not allow non-tribals to purchase any cultivable land in the region and if the presence of any outsiders are found detrimental to the tribal interest he could be driven out of the area. These privileges were disturbed by the Pakistan Government in post 1947 days. The government also disturbed the tribal people by constructing Kaptai Hydroelectric Project and through the introduction of certain constitutional measures. While the Kapati project inundated 80,000 acres of land and rendered 100,000 people homeless, the tribal population did not get fair treatment. The unfavorable policies of Bangladesh government had forced these tribes to move from CHT region to neighboring states of India.
The borders between India and Bangladesh are so vulnerable because still large areas of the borders are not fenced, taking advantages of this migrants easily come to Indian territory. The armed forces of both the countries are also incapable of stopping the movements of the migrants from Bangladesh to India. There are a number of people who migrate to India for employment and economic benefits. The cause is that there is a lack of employment in Bangladesh and level of living is very low. Despites its small size Bangladesh is the 7th most populated country in the world. All process clearly indicate that by the end of the first decade of 21st century, Bangladesh will face a serious crisis of lebensraum[]. Many thinkers feel that the main reasons behind the migration of Bangladeshi people is the density of the population and the scarcity of living space.

The Main Disputes between NER of India and Bangladesh related to this issue:
There is an estimation according to which 2,50,000 Hindus and as many Muslims migrated to India from Bangladesh annually since the Pakistan era of 1951. When the securities in the border areas were deployed by the Indian authorities for deportation, there were always chaos and dispute. Because of lack of evidences it was not possible to prove that they are Bangladeshi. One the other side the Bangladeshi side has raised their objection that India is trying to send the Indian Muslims to Bangladesh in the name of illegal migrants. The problems of Chakmas were another important issue. There was a huge project taken by Bangladesh government in Chittagong Hill tracts, known as Kaptai Dam inundated 253 sq.miles. 40 % of districts total cultivable land came under the project. About 18,000 families more than 1,00,000 people were displaced from their homeland. Chakma people were 70% of them. Thousands of these poor and misplaced tribes became helpless and started migrating to different parts of NER. They mostly migrated to Mizoram, Assam, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh. In both the countries there are no rights of the Chakma people. Apart from that Chakmas migrated to India, from Bangladesh from time to time. They suffered from the fear of persecution and discrimination from the Bangladeshi side and started migrating to India. In Tripura only there are more than 50,000 Chakma refugees are living. The Sheikh hasina government came to a peace treaty with the insurgents and in more than a decade more than 50,000 displaced tribes will be sent to Bangladesh. [email protected]