New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has confirmed that the state is pushing those who have been declared foreigners by the state’s foreigners tribunals (FTs) into Bangladesh, across the international border.

Sarma on Friday (May 30) invoked a February 4 Supreme Court order to justify the actions of the state government.

The Supreme Court had rapped the state in February for not initiating the process of deporting ‘declared foreigners’ lodged in the Matia detention camp.

“You know that there is a Supreme Court case, and the Supreme Court had directed us that those who are declared foreigners have to be returned (to their country of origin) through whatever means. The people who are declared foreigners but haven’t even appealed in court, we are pushing them back. If among them, some people tell us that they have appeals in the High Court or Supreme Court, then we are not troubling them,” said Sarma on Friday, reported Indian Express.

Sarma added that the government has decided to expedite the process of “detecting foreigners” in the state.

“So in the next few days, pushbacks will also be there, detection will also be done, and the Union government will also send some people to Bangladesh in coordination with the Bangladesh government,” said Sarma.

Sarma added the process will not be applied to people who have pending pending appeals against the cases in the FTs. However, the Assam Chief Minister said that those who have not yet challenged it have “forfeited their right to stay in Assam.”

At the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, hundreds of undocumented migrants have been sent back to Bangladesh through the eastern border as part of the government’s “push back” strategy.

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