Al Jazeera World

India's Four Million Unwanted: Voices From Assam In The Field (2018x30)

Data di messa in onda: Set 07, 2018

In the state of Assam, a sliver of India squeezed between Bangladesh and Bhutan, four million people are at risk of becoming stateless. The local government has put together a draft list of those it considers to be 'legitimate' citizens and four million of Assam's 32.9 million people didn’t make the cut. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) lists those who can prove that they or their parents were in India before March 1971, when Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan. Hundreds of thousands fled civil war in Pakistan, many choosing to cross the border into India's Assam to escape the violence, which led to the formation of Bangladesh. India's government says that those who came then or since should go back to Bangladesh. But Bangladesh doesn't view those missing from the NRC list as Bangladeshi and says it won't accept them. 'People are scared,' says Sharifa Khatun, who comes from the remote village of Langia where, she says, she is among some 500 people who did not find their names on the list. 'Our names were struck off the list, our family is sad. Many can't stop their tears,' she says. 'Apparently if your name's not on the list then you are a foreigner. If you are tagged as a foreigner then you will become a Bangladeshi. They are scared they will be put away in jails.' Authorities say those who did not make the list will not be arrested or deported immediately but will have time to file for corrections before the final list is published by the end of the year. Most of those missing from the list say their Indian roots pre-date 1971, they can appeal the decision but many fear that without the proper paperwork, they will become stateless. An hour's drive from Langia is the town of Nagoan and there, another family is worried. Despite having Indian passports, some of the family's names are not on the list. 'We are from here. This is my village,' says Hasiban Nesa. My father and my