SHILLONG, Jan 3 - The Border Security Force (BSF) today said that illegal Bangladeshi migrants are returning home due to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Assam and the improving economy of the neighbouring country.
When asked about apprehensions that Bangladeshis may enter India after the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Inspector General of BSF�s Meghalaya Frontier Kuldeep Saini said that inputs received by the BSF suggest otherwise.
�The inputs we are getting indicate that people from Bangladesh, who had illegally crossed over to India, are going back and some of them have been apprehended there,� Saini said.
When asked to elaborate on the illegal cross-border movement, Saini said that no such movement was noticed in the Meghalaya Frontier, but there were inputs that such movements had taken place in the past few months.
�We have seen reports in the Bangladesh media quoting the Director General of Border Guards Bangladesh on such movements,� Saini said, adding that the BSF �has not received any official report� from its Bangladeshi counterpart on this matter as yet.
The BSF IG said that he does not believe the reports to be �100 per cent true, but there may be some truth.�
He said, �It is a fact that the economy of Bangladesh is improving at a good pace and as a result of that, migration from the country has come down.�
He further said that such cross-border movements were perhaps taking place through the Assam and Tripura sectors.
Saini added that Bangladeshis living in Bangalore and other parts of the country were perhaps returning home through Assam and Tripura due to the ethnic similarity of the people in those places.
BSF Meghalaya Frontier guards the longest border with Bangladesh which runs through a diverse terrain for 443 km. There are 125 border outposts in this stretch, but there is shortage of manpower and about 100 km has still remained unfenced.
Saini said that they have asked the local population to be vigilant and assist the BSF.
Periodic meetings are being held with the local headmen to build confidence and improve coordination between the border population and the BSF, he said.
The BSF IG further stated that no instruction has been received from the Union Home Ministry or the External Affairs Ministry with regard to the CAA.
