446 return Bangladesh after NRC in India: BGB chief

A total of 446 people, arrested in past two months while entering Bangladesh from India are all Bangladeshis, claimed Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) director general Shafeenul Islam on Thursday.

The BGB DG was briefing newsmen at a press conference at BGB’s Pilkhana headquarters in Dhaka about the outcomes of the just-concluded DG-level border conference held in New Delhi last month.

When asked about the National Register of Citizens (NRC) list published by Indian government, he said that Bangladesh and India had no talks over the issue.

Shafeenul Islam, however, informed the newsmen that a total of 446 Bangladeshis returned from India in November and December after the NRC had been conducted in Assam, an Indian state close to Bangladesh.

All the 446 arrested people are Bangladeshi citizens, claimed the BGB DG. "We came to know about their identity after scrutinising their documents," he said adding that they would not allow anyone to cross or enter Bangladesh illegally.

Asked about border killings by India's Border Security Force (BSF) on India-Bangladesh border, Shafeenul said they expressed their concerns to India over this.