The Hindu reported that, the government has publicly declared the number of Bangladeshi nationals who were detained in Bangladesh in the year 2019. The Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) said that the government has initiated legal proceedings against the 999 Bangladeshi who lived illegally in India and were deported back. This announcement was made after talks between BGB and India’s Border Security Force towards the end of December.
At a press conference, Director General of BGB, Major General Shafeenul Islam declared that among the 999 people detained, were 135 children, 258 women and 606 men. Officials said they were arrested on the border, while going to India or returning home. Bangladesh has also reassured India through its foreign police advisor that it would take back its people if they were illegally staying in India, provided it is proved that they are Bangladeshi citizens.
This accounts for another step taken by Bangladesh government towards keeping relations with India friendly. Recently when the Bangladesh Foreign Minister’s cancellation of visit to India was seen as a move condemning the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Bangladesh government had clarified that the friendly relations still exist and the visit was cancelled due to internal administrative reasons. The Citizenship Amendment Act seeks to grant easy citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan as they are “religiously persecuted” in these countries. This allegation of persecution was known to have not gone down well with Bangladesh.
Simultaneously, India has also received a list of 96 Indians illegally staying in Bangladesh, 62 of which were handed over to BSF and rest were detained. Major General Islam also said that 35 Bangladeshi have been killed in border firing.
The Ministry of Home Affairs submitted to the Parliament in the recently concluded winter sessions that 1,154 Bangladeshis have been apprehended and deported to Bangladesh in the year 2019.
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