Retired army jawan in Assam asked to prove Indian citizenship

A retired army jawan of Assam's Barpeta district, who served the country for 28 years, has been asked to provide his school documents to prove himself a citizen of the country.

Barpeta (Assam): A retired army jawan from Assam has been marked as a 'doubtful citizen' by Barpeta's Foreigners Tribunal and asked for a citizenship certificate. The Tribunal also issued a notice to Abdul Haleem, a retired army jawan of the Barpeta district, who served the country for 28 years. He retired from the Indian Army as a Junior Commissioned Officer. Now, he has been served a notice by the Foreigners Tribunal to prove his Indian citizenship. He has also been asked not to disclose the matter to the media.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Abdul Haleem said, "I was surprised as soon as I received the notice. People from the Barpeta Border Police came to me and said there was a mistake in my name so they asked me to provide them with my school documents to solve the issue. They also said not to disclose the matter in front of the media. But the matter wasn't solved even after I provided them with my documents."

He said that he had joined the army in 1992 and also fought in the 1999 Kargil war. He also alleged that he was harassed by the Foreigners Tribunal by asking him to produce various kinds of certificates. Now he has decided not to go to the Foreigners Tribunal to prove himself as a citizen of India.