NEW DELHI, July 7 ? Close on the heels of the revelation that the highest number of foreigners were illegally staying in Assam, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today conceded that infiltration from Bangladesh was continuing into different States of North-East. According to available reports, Bangladeshi nationals have been found using porous Indo-Bangladesh border to enter into India illegally, Union Minister of State for Home, S Reghupathy said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha here today.
Yesterday, his colleague Union Minister of State, Sriprakash Jaiswal had disclosed in Lok Sabha that highest number of 26,490 foreigners was found to be staying illegally in Assam. He reported that about 46,818 foreigners living illegally in India as on December 2002. Today the Minister said that the Government of India has taken several measures to curb illegal entry including raising of additional battalions of Border Security Force (BSF), reduction in gaps between BoPs intensification of patrolling besides fencing of the border.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for External Affairs, E Ahmed in reply to a question said in Lok Sabha that India has conveyed at the highest level to Bangladesh that violence and atrocities against minorities particularly Hindus have an adverse impact on public sentiments in India, which in turn have the potential of affecting bilateral ties. Such incidents should be strictly dealt with. The Government of Bangladesh has stated that they are committed to safeguarding minority right and that many of the incidents are not communal in nature and arise from disputes of a political or private nature and that stern action would be taken against the culprits, the Minister said.
The High Commission of India in Dhaka continues to monitor the situation closely and is in touch with Government of Bangladesh in this regard, Sri Ahmed said in a statement.