MORIGAON: The extended family members of Assam 's first deputy speaker Moulavi Muhammad Amiruddin, who played a key role in preventing the state from being clubbed with Pakistan during Partition, are now struggling to prove their nationality in their own land after getting notices from foreigners' tribunals."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," said Habikul Islam, Amiruddin's nephew. He added that one grandson and great grandson of Amiruddin were declared foreigners this year.Amiruddin, an Independent MLA who represented the then Nowgong Mohhemedan East constituency, served as a deputy speaker between April 1937 and 1946. He along with three other Jamiat Ulema E Hind-backed Muslim legislators had supported then Premier Gopinath Bordoloi (September 1938 to November 1939) to stop Assam from becoming a part of Pakistan. At that time till 1946, barring the 14 months of Bordoloi, the Assam Assembly was headed by Premier Syed Muhammad Saadulla of the Muslim League. Bordoloi again became Premier in 1946 and got the support of Amiruddin to keep Assam within India."My uncle used to tell us how he and three other Muslim legislators, all backed by Jamiat, rejected the Muslim League's plan to club Assam with Pakistan. They supported Bordoloi so that Assam remained with India. Look at the irony of life today. My uncle's descendants have been issued foreigner notices," rued Islam. He added that the family members have several documents, including those relating to land and receipt of taxes, dating back to 1930.Amiruddin's ancestral village Kalikajhari, about 10 km from Morigaon town, has 174 houses. Almost all the families in the village have received notices and some others have been declared as foreigners.Abu Taher, 37, son of Amiruddin's nephew Abdul Mannas, said: "I got the notice in 2016. Since then, I have been visiting the tribunals almost regularly with all the relevant documents. But my case is still pending. Even my wife and daughter were served notices the same year."He added, "At one place in the border police's inquiry report to the tribunal, my address has been shown as a resident of Kalikajhari. In another place, it is mentioned as Bangladesh. Is this not discrepancy when all my documents say that I am from Kalikajhari? I was also not even interviewed by the police when they filed the report."Last week, leader of the Opposition and Congress legislature party chief Debabrata Saikia visited Kalikajhari and interacted with the families who got the foreigners' notice. He demanded an inquiry into allegations that the border police had been 'arbitrarily' referring names of people to foreigners' tribunals. Saikia also asked the government to prevent harassment of citizens in the name of detecting foreigners.

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