The Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha has been long demanding Constitutional safeguard for the indigenous peoples of Assam and identification of illegal migrants.
In support of PIL No. 562 of 2012 filed in the Supreme Court of India by the Mahasangha, a coalition of 40 indigenous bodies, a division bench comprising Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Ranjan Gogoi of the Supreme Court of India Wednesday fixed a hearing (against serial number 11) as regards the PIL agreeing to a detailed hearing on the issue raised in the petition.
Chief petitioner and Working President of the Mahasangha, Motiur Rahman speaking to Assam Times said that the Supreme Court division bench has agreed to a detailed hearing. “The year 1951 must be in the interest of the indigenous people be invariably and considered for the purpose of determination of illegal migrants in lieu of 1971,” he added.
Rahman and President of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’ Front (ITPF) and co-petitioner Rana Prasad Deuri is in New Delhi pursuing the PIL. The other petitioners are Deepak Kumar Nath, the brother of Assam Movement martyr Rupak Nath and popular Assam Movement activist, philosopher and academic, Bisheshwar Hazarika. Spokesperson Somiran Sharma presented his argument in support of the PIL.
The Government of Assam however, is bent upon using March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date for inclusion in the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) despite all oddities. It maintains that it is doing its best to include the names of all people and their descendants who had entered Assam before March 25, 1971
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