On Thursday, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) chief said that a total of 445 Bangladeshi nationals have returned to Bangladesh from India in last two months following the publication of the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) by the Indian government.
Speaking at a press briefing, Major General Md Shafeenul Islam, Director-General of BGB disclosed the figure and said, “About 1,000 people were arrested in 2019 for illegal border crossings from India to Bangladesh, with 445 of them returning home in November and December”. These individuals had reportedly cross over to India illegally from Bangladesh.
Reportedly, Major General Islam said BGB verified the identities of these intruders through the local representatives, who later came to know that all of them were Bangladeshis. He said that 253 cases have been lodged earlier against them for illegal trespassing and initial investigations have found that at least three of them indulged in human trafficking.
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Last week, Islam who had visited India on a bilateral visit had said that the creation of the NRC is completely an “internal affair” of India.
Talking on the issue of border killings, the BGB chief said, “The issue of border killings was discussed at the six-day 49th DG level BGB-BSF meeting in New Delhi from December 25 to 30. We expressed our concern about the killing of Bangladeshi people by the Border Security Force (BSF) in the border areas.”
Islam said that the BGB will continue to do its work of preventing illegal border crossings as per its mandate.
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A BGB delegation headed by Major General Islam was on a bilateral visit to India to hold DG-level border talks with its counterparts, the Border Security Force (BSF). The talks took place from December 26-29, during which a host of issues related to cross-border smuggling and activities of criminals and others along the 4,096-km-long front were discussed.
“The number of border killings in 2019 was highest in the last four years. As per our calculation, the number of such unexpected deaths was 35,” the BGB chief said.
