"Land, education should be reserved in Assam for people who

An organisation against infiltration on Monday said it is necessary to reserve land, employment, trade licence and higher education opportunities for those citizens of Assam who or whose ancestors were in the state before 1951. This will ensure that all resources in Assam will be reserved only for those who were citizens in 1951 and not for those who became citizens after 1951, said Prabajan Virodhi Manch (Forum Against Infiltration) chief Upamanyu Hazarika.

"This will correct the imbalance and injustice to the people of Assam for taking the burden of 23 years of additional migrants, unlike the rest of India, and so that the newly granted citizens post-1951 do not enjoy equal rights as that of the existing citizens," Hazarika asserted. There are over 115 ethnic communities in Assam, such as the Tai Phake, Tai Khamyang, Koch Rajbongshis and the Tea Tribes and all are facing the threat to identity and existence", he said.

Hazarika suggested that each of these communities needed to secure their identity and existence. Safeguards would have to be implemented by making laws by either Parliament or the state Assembly, he said.

Hazarika said he has given these suggestion to the committee set up by the central government on implementing legal and constitutional safeguards on land, employments, etc under Clause 6 of the Assam Accord. The clause 6 of the Accord states: "Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people" A six-year agitation by the AASU demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants culminated with the signing of the Assam Accord by the Rajiv Gandhi government and the AASU on August 15, 1985..