India seeks Dhaka help in repatriating illegal Bangladeshis: MEA

New Delhi: The Indian government on Thursday sought Dhaka’s cooperation on the “core issue” of repatriation of illegal Bangladeshis from India. After the announcement of the Bangladesh poll results, the MEA spoke on this issue for the first time, calling on Bangladesh to speed up the nationality verification of nearly 3,000 people to smoothly repatriate illegal immigrants. “This requires cooperation… More than 2,862 nationality verification cases are pending in Bangladesh, some of which have been going on for five years,” said Randhir Jaiswal of the MEA. It is India’s policy that all foreigners residing illegally in India must be repatriated in accordance with Indian laws, procedures and established bilateral arrangements. “We hope Bangladesh will speed up nationality verification so that illegal immigrants can be repatriated smoothly,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalil Rehman posted on social media on Tuesday that Dhaka would take action if there was any “intrusion” on the Indian side. “These comments have to be seen in the context of the core issue of repatriation of illegal Bangladeshis from India. This requires Bangladesh’s cooperation,” Jaiswal said. He also answered a question on possible cooperation between Bangladesh and China in the management of Teesta River. “…Both countries share 54 rivers. We have established bilateral mechanisms to discuss all water-related issues. These bilateral mechanisms continue to meet regularly,” he said. Bangladesh’s BSS news agency reported that Rahman sought China’s participation and support for the Teesta project during his visit to China.