Till August 1993, according to the information furnished by the Assam Government, the progress in the detection of "Illegal Migrants" (those who entered Assam on or alter March 25, 1971 was as under:

1) Enquiries taken up for investigation                                : 2,88,103

2) Enquiries completed                                                        : 2,37,511

3) Cases referred to Tribunals                                              : 25,445

4) Cases disposed of by Tribunals                                       : 12,011

5) Persons detected as illegal migrants                                : 8,871

6) Illegal migrants expelled                                                 : 1,219

The figures for the progress of detection of "foreigners" (those who entered Assam between January 1, 1966 and March 24, 1971) up to September 1993 are:

1)     Enquiries initiated                                                    : 5,09,946

2)     Enquiries completed                                                :5,09,938

3)     Cases referred to Foreigner's Tribunal                     : 33,192

4)     Cases disposed of by Tribunals                                : 19,696

5)     Number of persons stated to be foreigners              : 17,993

6)     Number of foreigners registered with the                : 5,960                                                                                                                            registering authority

(Source: Partha S. Ghosh in The Hindu, 11 August, 1998)

Saifuddin Soz's Statement on Identification of Infiltration, 27 July, 1998

.. In the absence of a well-defined policy, also acceptable to the Opposition and of procedure laid down for treating foreign nationals in India in the category under discussion, the eviction cannot be supported. There have been cases when these Bangla Speaking persons have produced documents that they sere bonafide citizens of India, but their plea was not heard.

This is a very sensitive issue and such a matter can not be left to the summary decisions of the Shiv Sena-BJP Government in Maharashtra whose hidden agenda on treatment of Muslim community is very well known ...

H.K. Bhattacharya, IPS (Retd) On Muslim Infiltration and ISI in Assam

Of late, ISI activities in Assam have also added fuel to the fire. As many as 15 underground Muslim militant fundamentalist outfits are reported to be operating in Assam with the avowed purpose of converting Assam into a Muslim-dominated State and integrating it with either Bangladesh or the proposed Islamistan, which may comprise Assam, Bangladesh and parts of Bihar.

In 1971, Assam's electoral rolls had a little over 63 lakh voters, and today the strength of the electoral roll has gone beyond 1.25 crore. The report of the 1991 census has also substantiated the apprehensions. The percentage of Hindu population has come down from over 72% to 67%, and as against that the percentage of Muslim population has gone up from 24 percent to 29 percent ...

Bangladesh has an area of 1.4 lakhs sq km out of which only 55,000 sq km is fit for human habitation. The density of population ... is as high as 2054 per sq km.

Assam has density of less than 300 per sq km. Arunachal Pradesh has only 8 per sq km. Therefore, it is no wonder why the North-East region has become a target of Muslim infiltration from across the border. One has to consider the emergence of the 15 Muslim fundamentalist groups, mostly underground, in this light. The anti-India feelings constantly shown by the ULFA may be attributed to ISI propaganda ...

In 1952, Assam included Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. In the general elections held in 1952, five Muslim MLAs were elected whereas in truncated Assam in 1996 elections, 26 Muslim MLAs were returned. Today immigrant Muslim voters have become a decisive factor in as many as 60 Assembly constituencies out of a total of 126.

(Sources: The Organiser, 10 August, 1997)