DHAKA: Bangladesh on Tuesday said it has beefed up security along its border with Assam after nearly 1.9 million people in the Indian state were excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) last week.
Their exclusion has raised fears that they could be rendered stateless and may try to enter Bangladesh, which is struggling to cope with hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
A Bangladeshi Border Guards official said they are “on high alert” and “monitoring the situation very closely.”
The country’s Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told Arab News that he was assured by his Indian counterpart that it is an internal issue and will not affect Bangladesh.
Obaidul Quader, deputy leader of Bangladesh’s ruling party, the Awami League, on Sunday said his country “is ready to face any situation that may arise regarding the Assam issue.”
Bangladesh’s former Foreign Secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury said those who are excluded from the NRC can appeal, but if they “are finally declared as non-Indian, then in which country do they belong?”
He expressed hope that India will not do anything that may hamper the “friendly relations” between the two countries.
“Bangladesh needs to enhance border security measures to avoid any trespassing incident,” Chowdhury said.
