Sonowal appeals to people to maintain peace ahead of final NRC publication

In a statement, Chief Minister Sonowal said that the NRC, which has been updated by the State NRC Coordinator and his team under the monitoring of the Supreme Court of India and supervision of the Registrar General of India, is an outcome of the untiring efforts of the thousands of people.

He also expressed his gratitude to the people of Assam for their unconditional support which has yielded into the updating the NRC.

At the same time, he minced his words to those people whose names have been excluded from proposed NRC, as they would get the opportunity to file their appeal and be heard in the Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) as per the direction of the Union Home Ministry.

He also said the fact that the extension of filing an appeal from 60 days to 120 days to the FT will help all the excluded persons to enjoy a level playing field. He also said that the Government of Assam will take care of the cause of the excluded people and due care will be taken so that nobody is subjected to any unnecessary harassment. 

Sonowal maintained that as long as the appellant’s plea remains sub-judice with the Foreigner’s Tribunal, he or she can not be treated as a foreigner. He, therefore, appealed to the people of the state belonging to Barak, Brahmaputra, hills and plains to maintain peace and set an example of a matured society.

(By Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati)