India claims detaining thousand illegal immigrants from Bangladesh

Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday claimed that at least 1,154 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh were arrested by the security forces till October 31, 2019, Indian influential television channel, NDTV, reported on Thursday.

"1,154 illegal migrants arrested by security forces at India-Bangladesh border till 31st October," the report quoted the MHA as saying in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's bicameral legislature[parliament].

Earlier on Wednesday the Union Cabinet approved the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh if they faced persecution in their countries.

The contentious Bill is set to be tabled in Parliament next week, the report added.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday met several politicians and activists of Northeast states including the Chief Ministers of Manipur, Nagaland, and Assam to discuss the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

Apart from the Chief Ministers of the three states, the activists of North-East Forum for Indigenous People (NEFIP), Manipur People Against Citizenship Amendment Bill (MANPAC) and members of the civil society were also present in the meeting at Assam Bhavan.

The issue of illegal immigrants has assumed to be a rising tension between the two Asian neighbors as Indian high-profile politicians including home minister have repeatedly claimed that millions of Bangladeshi citizens have been living in India for decades who migrated there illegally during and after the 1971 War of Liberation between the then East Pakistan [Bangladesh] and West Pakistan [Pakistan].

They also warned of ousting those illegal migrants from India to their country of origin, or Bangladesh though Bangladeshi authorities have assured their citizens as terming the matter as an internal issue of India and none will be pushed back to Bangladesh.

Kamruzzaman