The people of Assam are sitting atop a smouldering volcano, one that threatens to erupt into catastrophic suffering and injustice. On Saturday, a tortuously extended process of updating the National Register of Citizens will conclude with the publication of the draft register, listing residents of Assam who are judged to be Indian citizens. There are nine million Bengali-speaking Muslims, and a smaller number of Bengali Hindus, in Assam, and each one of them is waiting with intense trepidation and fear for the publication of this list. The question looming like a gathering tempest, laden with momentous legal and humanitarian concerns, is: what will be the fate of those deemed to be foreigners? These may be a few thousand women, men and children, or tens of thousands of them, or hundreds of thousands. Since there is no formal agreement between the governments of India and Bangladesh for India to deport persons they deem to be Bangladeshi foreigners, what will be their situation ...