MEA upset at Habib's denial of entry

India's ministry of external affairs is upset with denial of restricted area permit to Bangladesh's journalist-author Haroon Habib to attend a seminar at the Rajiv Gandhi University in Itanagar, capital of Arunachal Pradesh state.

Habib was to present a paper at a seminar on media's coverage of conflicts at the university Journalism department held on 8-9 Oct.

All foreigners require both an Inner Line Permit (ILP) and a Restricted Area Permit (RAP) to enter Arunachal Pradesh and four other Northeast Indian states. Even Indians need an Inner Line Permit to enter these states, a legacy of British rule to keep out peoples from elsewhere in the country from settling in these tribal-dominated regions.

Habib is considered a friend of India because he not only fought as a freedom fighter with Indian troops in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War but also because he has always highlighted India's role in liberation of Bangladesh.

"There is no way he can be denied a RAP after he had a formal invitation from the university," said an MEA official.

The University says it filed for a RAP for Habib but did not get it on time.

Having failed to get a RAP for him, the university sent a driver to receive Habib at Guwahati airport on Oct 7.

"He gave a RAP to Bertil Lintner, another top journalist attending the seminar, but he told me to accompany him. He said all you have to say is that you are an Indian," said Habib from Guwahati, where he is now working with his researchers on the India-Bangladesh history project on 1971 Liberation War.

"I refused to break the law. How could have I said such a lie and why should I ! It was their job to get me a RAP if they have invited me and I have come all the way from Dhaka," said an upset Habib.

His many friends in India have raised the issue with the Ministry of External Affairs. The MEA clears the RAP for foreigners and sends it to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The MHA gives the final clearance.

While Habib could not make it, a journalist from Assam who was not initially invited turned up to speak at the seminar. His paper was not published in the volume circulated by the organisers, who say they did not invite him but were ‘forced to accommodate him on high-level pressure'.

A chancellor's representative had pitched for this journalist's inclusion at the seminar, it is reliably learnt.

Haroon Habib is a former chief editor of the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) and a recipient of the Bangla Academy award.