Guwahati: Indigenous Assamese Muslims, anticipating an "identity crisis", on Tuesday urged Dispur to grant them "ethnic community" status to distinguish them from the Bengali-speaking Muslims included in the updated draft National Register of Citizens.

A day after the final draft NRC was published, leaders of the Sadou Asom Goria-Moria-Deshi Jatiya Parishad said that the absence of such an identity had led to more than 3,600 indigenous Assamese Muslims being tagged "D" (doubtful) voters and seven being declared foreigners and sent to detention camps on suspicion of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

"The NRC is no doubt a victory following our long fight against illegal migrants from Bangladesh. But the identity of the indigenous Muslims must be protected by according them ethnic identity like any other ethnic community in the state. The BJP government should fulfil its pre-poll promise by conducting a census of the indigenous Assamese Muslims and accord us special safeguards so that we are not clubbed as Muslims with Bengali-speaking Muslims," Parishad adviser Nekibur Zaman told The Telegraph.

The organisation said that of the 1.18 crore Muslims in the state, 42 lakh belong to indigenous Assamese communities such as Goria, Moria, Ujani, Deshi, Jola and Poimal, who had either converted to Islam or were war prisoners in the Mughal-Ahom battles in Assam in the 13th Century.

"We had submitted a memorandum to chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal earlier, requesting him to set up a committee to carry out a survey to identify the indigenous Assamese Muslims and to decide on safeguards to protect our identity," said Zaman, a veteran lawyer.

"Since indigenous Assamese Muslims do not have an MLA or MP yet, the funds earmarked by the government for the welfare of minorities are spent in areas dominated by Bengali-speaking Muslims by their leaders," he added.

The Deshi Janagosthiyo Mancha, an organisation of the Deshi community with a population of about 20 lakh in the state, had recently demanded other backward class status to protect the identity of the community's members. The Mancha claims that Deshis are indigenous communities such as Koch, Rabha, Mech, Garo, Nath, Yogi and Kalita who embraced Islam following the footsteps of Ali Mech, the founding father of the community who converted to Islam in 1205AD. They mostly live in Goalpara, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Kamrup, South Salmara-Mankachar and Kamrup (metro) districts in western Assam.

A delegation of the Parishad on Tuesday met the director-general of Assam border police, Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, seeking steps to clear the names of 3,600 indigenous Muslims who had been served D-voter notices. "Most Poimals, who work in tea gardens, have been tagged as D-voters and they are fighting cases in foreigners' tribunals," Zaman said.