Family of Assam's first deputy speaker who opted to join India after partition asked to prove nationality

MORIGAON- The family members of Assam’s first deputy speaker Moulavi Muhammad Amiruddin, who opposed the secession of the state to Pakistan after partition, have landed in hot waters after foreign tribunals served notices on them to prove their nationality.

Habikul Islam, a nephew of Amiruddin, talking to Times of India, said: “Since 2012, nearly 100 people of the 400-strong extended family of my late uncle have been issued foreigners’ notice. All of them are descendants of my late uncle’s five brothers”.

He added that a grandson and great-grandson of Amiruddin were declared foreigners by the tribunals this year.

Islam also commented on the irony of the situation, that the same family who had fought to keep Assam as a part of India is having its’ nationality questioned.

An independent member of the Legislative Assembly, Amirrudin was one of the four Muslim legislators backed by the Jamiat that rejected the Muslim League plan to club Assam with Pakistan, according to his nephew Habik Ul Islam.

The former MLA’s ancestral village Kalikajhari hosts nearly 174 houses of which most have received notices and others have been formally declared as foreigners. Amiruddin’s nephew, Islam, also added that in the past 6 years about 100 members of his extended family were issued such notices.

Son of Amirrudin's nephew also voices the same complaint, saying his attempts to prove his nationality by visiting tribunals with relevant documents since 2016 have not yet borne fruit.