‘Illegal’ Bangladeshi national still in Goa

‘Illegal’ Bangladeshi national still in Goa
Has No Valid Travel Documents, Say Cops
Preetu Nair | TNN

Panaji: Even as home minister P Chidambaram has indicated the need to enforce stricter measures to check illegal immigration from Bangladesh, as nationals from that country have “no business” to be in India without permission, the Goa government has been struggling for over a month to deport a Bangladeshi national who has been staying “illegally” in Goa for the last eight years.
Clueless about what to do with a Bangladeshi national in Goa and with no response from the ministry of external affairs (MEA) and with no place to keep him except the foreigner’s registration office (FRO), the Goa police have sent an urgent reminder on January 14 to the MEA to take up the case of the Bangladeshi national Ali Khan, 23, on top priority with the Bangladeshi embassy in New Delhi so that he can be deported at the earliest.
“Ali is a foreign national who has infiltrated into our country in 2001 from Bangladesh and claims to be a Bangladeshi. He has been staying in Goa since 2002. He doesn’t have a passport or any valid documents or a travel document. Without a valid travel document, we are finding it difficult to do away with this “illegal” migrant,” said SP (FRO) Tony Fernandes.
SP Fernandes added, “We have written to the MEA to take up the matter with the Bangladesh high commission to establish whether he is a Bangladeshi and if so, issue travel documents, so that he can be deported.”
Meanwhile, Ali is spending anxious moments at the FRO, which has become his home since last month. “I am tired of staying here without any work. I hope a decision is soon taken as this uncertainty is exasperating,” said Ali.
Ali was arrested by the Verna police on December 4, 2008, for overstaying in the country without valid documents. Since then, he has been staying at the FRO at Panaji as he can’t be sent to jail, as he has already served the seven-month term for overstaying without valid documents in 2007. He was arrested by the crime branch in September 2007, a few days before he married a local girl here. He was released on March 31, 2008, and since then was staying at Verna.
As the law does not permit one to be punished for the same offence twice, instead of sending him to prison the police sent him to the FRO so that he can be deported. But with no travel document or any other document to establish that he is a Bangladeshi, the police having a tough time trying to deport him. So he sleeps on the ground in a corner of the FRO and eats in the police canteen. All his expenses and needs are being taken care of by the FRO officials.
“Ali claims that he is from Bangladesh. But he doesn’t have any documents to confirm the same,” said FRO officials.
Ali, who smuggled into West Bengal from Satkhira, Bangladesh, in 2001, said, “I have not seen my father. I lost my mother when I was a kid. My house was destroyed in 2001 and then along with hundreds of people from my village, I walked for more than 4 hours to India. I was 15 then. I don’t have any papers or relatives to establish that I am a Bangladeshi.”
He added, “I want to stay in Goa. But if I am sent back to Bangladesh, I don’t know whether I will be able to return as I don’t have valid documents required to return.”

January 15,2009, The Times of India, Goa edition