guwahati since november 14 last tanka maya newar a 51yearold gorkha woman from assams udalguri district is trying hard to figure out how she could be declared as a foreigner who entered the state from bangladesh after march 25 1971 the cutoff date for detecting and deporting illegal migrants despite being a bonafide citizenborn in nunaikhuti village of udalguri near bhutan in 1968 tanka maya lost her husband tika ram newar nine years ago since then she had been doing odd jobs as a daily wager to run her family the november 14 order of the udalguri foreigners tribunal which stated that she entered assam from bangladesh after march 25 1971 and should be pushed back to the country of her origin in due process of law has not only compounded her miseries but also also put her identity at stake my father dal bahadurs native village is nunaikhuti and his name figured on the national register of citizens nrcs legacy data of 1971 what disturbs me the most is that i was declared a foreigner despite being born in the state and belonging to the gorkha community said tanka maya a resident of no 2 samrang village in udalguri she is however fortunate that till now she has not been pushed back into bangladesh or put in a detention camp she added i am somehow managing my familys expenses by doing odd jobs in tea gardens in such a situation the judgment of the tribunal came as a big blow to me said the mother of two daughters one of whom is married to an assamese from a nearby village dipak nirola secretary of gorkha sammelan that represents the 25lakh strong community in the state said gorkhas who are the backbone of the indian armed forces and engaged in the countrys security cannot be declared as foreigners as along as the indonepal peace and friendship treaty of 1950 is in force article 7 of the treaty states the governments of india and nepal agree to grant on reciprocal basis to the nationals of one country in the territories of the other the same privileges in the matter of residence ownership of property participation in trade and commerce movement and other privileges of a similar nature nirola alleged that members of the gorkha community despite living in the state for generations were being arbitrarily tagged as doubtful d voters it is estimated that over 2000 gorkhas including those whom served in the army and central paramilitary forces have been declared as d voters again many others have given up their legal battle to prove their nationality after spending money for years without any result the assam accord of 1985 signed after a sixyearlong antiforeigners movement has set march 24 1971 as the cutoff date for detection and deportation of foreigners the citizenship act 1955 has special provisions for assam that treats anyone who entered the state from bangladesh after january 1 1966 but before march 25 1971 as