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Kamrup villagers in draft NRC unsure of inclusion in final list

GUWAHATI: For the villagers of No. 1 Malibari Pathar village in lower Assam 's Kamrup district , inclusion in the National Register of Citizens ( NRC ) is starting to resemble an obstacle race.

Locals say nearly 95 per cent of the families of the village - located under Chamoria revenue circle of the district and having around 5,000 people - made it to the draft NRC published in July last year, but add that at least one member from most families had been called for 'reverification' of the submitted documents in the beginning of August.



Khajal Uddin Ahmed, a school teacher from the village, explains that most of the residents had made it to the initial and the final drafts published by the NRC authority but the summons have left them worried. "Unlike other minority-dominated villages, No. 1 Malibari Pathar made the NRC cut. But our relief was short-lived as summons for reverification were issued to our neighbours earlier this month," he says, adding, "We were relieved when we made it to the draft NRC but now we are suspicious of the process. What if someone is left out of the final NRC?"

The anxiety of No. 1 Malibari Pathar perfectly sums up the dilemma being faced by most minority-dominated hamlets of Assam. While families that don't possess proper land documents have anyway found it hard to back their claim of inclusion in the NRC, those who do possess the relevant land documents and have made it to the draft NRC are also scared of exclusion from the final register, to be published this Saturday. Land right papers - prized in a state with a long history of migration and where thousands of indigenous tribals themselves don't have valid documents - are proving to be inadequate security for the minority community, many feel.

Chamoria - where No. 1 Malibari Pathar is located - saw violent clashes between the minorities and the indigenous communities during the days of the anti-foreigners' movement from 1979 to 1985. Allegations had then been levelled that unauthorized Muslim migrants were entering the state through the riverine areas of Chamoria. The area had put its bloody past behind thanks to decades of peaceful coexistence among different groups, but old anxieties have resurfaced in the agonizing wait for Saturday.

Hazrat Ali Ahmed says he was born in the nearby Bogoriguri village, about 94 km from Guwahati. Everyone in his family was included in the draft NRC, but his sexagenarian mother was called for a reverification at Koliabor in Nagaon district recently. "We are at a loss to understand why she was called for a hearing. She is Indian and that's why she was included in the draft NRC in the first place," he adds.

"No migration has taken place in the village since the days of our parents' childhood. Most people settled here even before the 1951 NRC was prepared. But there are hardly any families that did not receive summons by the NRC authority in August, asking someone or the other to attend reverification hearings in far-flung upper Assam villages," rues Ali, who runs a small business establishment in the village market.

Alarmed by calls for reverification, the residents of No. 1 Malibari Pathar say they are ready to prove - again - the presence of their ancestors in the area since before Independence. But they are also desperately hoping that Saturday would end their identity crisis.

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