India Seeks Bangladesh Cooperation to Push Back Illegal Immigrants
NEW DELHI, May 7: India on Thursday called for Bangladesh’s cooperation over repatriation of illegal immigrants in India, pressing for nationality verification.
“These comments must be seen in the context of the core issue of repatriation of illegal Bangladeshis from India. This requires cooperation from Bangladesh. Over 2862 cases of nationality verification are pending with Bangladesh, some for over five years,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a weekly briefing by the MEA.
Mr Jaiswal was responding to the question on Bangladesh foreign minister Khalilur Rahman’s statement following BJP victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections this week. Mr Rahman, when asked about the reports of a “push in” by Indian border guards of individuals into Bangladesh said, “When the Chief Minister of Assam said similar things and admitted he had taken certain actions, you saw that we strongly protested. We will take whatever measures are necessary on that issue.”
Commentator Altaf Parvez, writing in leading daily Prothom Alo also said that the BJP’s victory in West Bengal (and the return of the Himanta Biswa Sarma government in Assam) has increased “saffron pressure” on both the eastern and western parts of Bangladesh’s borders with India. This “saffron pressure” was an indirect reference to accusations made by BJP leaders in Assam and West Bengal about alleged illegal immigration from Bangladesh to India.
“Our policy is that all illegal foreign nationals staying in India must be repatriated as per our laws, procedure and established bilateral arrangements,” Mr Jaiswal said in the briefing. “We expect Bangladesh to expedite nationality verification so that repatriation of illegal immigrants can take place in a smooth manner,” he added.
About 20 foreign nationals were apprehended in Assam and pushed back to Bangladesh on April 26. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said. He, however, did not share details about the location where they were nabbed or their nationality. “Assam will fight, Pushbacks will continue,” Mr Sarma had asserted.
(Manas Dasgupta)
