Sent 12 letters to India on alleged push-in attempts at border: Bangladesh says

“We have already sent 12 to 13 letters to Delhi,” Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Shama Obaid told a media briefing in Dhaka.

She said Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) had foiled several alleged push-in attempts and had been instructed to remain vigilant along border areas.

Bangladesh and India share a 4,096-kilometer (2,545-mile) border, the fifth-longest land border in the world.

Obaid said both countries have established procedures to verify the nationality of undocumented migrants and facilitate their return.

“There is a mechanism” that the two neighbors follow, she said, warning that the issue could affect Bangladesh-India relations.

The BGB said it had thwarted at least 18 alleged attempts since June 4 in which India’s Border Security Force (BSF) tried to push around 180 people across the border into Bangladesh.

Bilateral mechanism in place

Responding to claims by Dhaka over the migrant issue, New Delhi said a “bilateral mechanism” is already in place between the two countries.

“All foreign nationals in India, if they are here illegally, including from Bangladesh, we have laws to deal with them and they will be accordingly dealt with,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters Friday.

“And once we refer these cases to the Bangladeshi side, for them to verify the nationality of these people, and once it is verified, then we take forward the deportation process,” said Jaiswal, responding to accusations by Dhaka regarding “push-ins.”

Jaiswal said New Delhi had sent “several or many of these requests,” which remain pending with the Bangladeshi side.

According to the Indian Foreign Ministry, New Delhi has shared details of more than 2,860 suspected Bangladeshi nationals with Dhaka for nationality verification.