India said on Friday that there was a mechanism in place with Bangladesh to verify the nationality of suspected illegal immigrants and deport them, in response to Dhaka’s claim that it had thwarted several attempts by Indian authorities to “return” people to the neighboring country.
“All foreign nationals in India, if they are here illegally, including those from Bangladesh, we have laws to deal with them and they will be dealt with accordingly,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a regular press conference.
While responding to a question about the Bangladesh Border Guard’s (BGB) claim that it had detected 10 violation attempts along several sections of the border, Jaiswal said that there was a bilateral mechanism in place to deport these individuals.
“We refer these cases to the Bangladeshi side to verify the nationality of these people, and once verified, we move forward with the deportation process,” Jaiswal said.
“We have…several such requests, which are still pending with the Bangladeshi side, and we hope and expect that they will be expedited as soon as possible so that the deportation of people illegally residing in India can proceed in a smooth and efficient manner.”
India has asked Bangladesh to verify the citizenship of more than 2,860 Bangladeshi suspects living illegally in the country, the Ministry of External Affairs said last month.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments in the border states of Tripura, West Bengal and Assam have listed tackling illegal migration as a priority and focused on so-called “pushback” on illegal infiltrators into Bangladesh.
However, the BGB warned in a statement that any effort to violate international border management standards and bilateral understandings will be “strongly resisted.” “No individual or group will be allowed to enter Bangladesh illegally across the border,” she added.
