‘NRC Is A Completely Internal Affair Of India’: Border Guards Bangladesh Chief Says During His Visit

Visiting Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) chief Major General Md Shafeenul Islam in New Delhi on Sunday (29 December) said that the procedure of National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Assam is a "political" as well as "internal affair" of India.

Islam responded to a question while addressing a joint press briefing with Border Security Force (BSF) after signing a Joint Record of Discussion with the Indian paramilitary force as part of forty-ninth DG level bilateral border coordination conference -- a five day event which began on 26 December, a day after an 11-member BGB delegation reached in the national capital.

"This (NRC) is a completely internal affair of Indian government. I have no comment on this because we are border guarding professional forces in the uniform, and these are all political issues," Islam said when asked how the BGB will deal with the new situation if large number of Bangladeshi immigrants are identified during NRC exercise.

The BGB Director General, however, said his force will work to deal with the issue as a border guarding force does.

Islam mentioned that the cooperation between the BSF and his force is good and the two forces would continue their work to prevent illegal crossings into India.

India has prepared the NRC in Assam that lists out the names of Indian nationals while leaving out those who have not been able to prove their identity as Indians.

Some 19 lakh people have been left out of the register and there are concerns in Dhaka that Bangladesh could be asked to take these people.

In October, while briefing the media on the outcome of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's four-day visit to India that included a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque had also said that his country was reassured by the explanations given by India that the implementation of the NRC in Assam is an internal matter but added that Dhaka will keep a close eye on developments.

(With inputs from IANS)