India on Friday said it has a formal mechanism with Bangladesh to verify the nationality of suspected illegal migrants and deport them, countering Dhaka’s claim that Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) blocked several Indian “push back” attempts along the frontier.
Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said this while replying to a question of a local journalist at the weekly media briefing, reports Hindustan Times.
He told the reporters, “All foreign nationals in India, if they are here illegally, including from Bangladesh, we have laws to deal with them, and they’ll be accordingly dealt with.”
Jaiswal also stressed that deportations are handled through a bilateral mechanism.
Responding to BGB’s statement that it detected 10 attempted crossings in recent days, he said, “We refer these cases to the Bangladeshi side for nationality verification, and once confirmed, we proceed with deportation.”
He added, “Many of these requests remain pending with Bangladesh. We hope they will be expedited so deportations of those illegally staying in India can move forward smoothly and efficiently.”
Last month, the ministry said India had asked Dhaka to verify the nationality of more than 2,860 suspected Bangladeshis living illegally in the country.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments in Tripura, West Bengal and Assam have made undocumented migration a priority, focusing on the “push back” of illegal infiltrators.
The BGB, however, warned that any attempt to breach international border management norms or bilateral agreements would be “strictly resisted.” It said, “No individual or group will be allowed to enter Bangladesh illegally through the border.”
