Assam crisis: ‘We have enough reasons to be concerned’
Bangladesh must ask India about the future and settlement of these people
Bangladesh has enough reasons to be concerned about the exclusion of 19 lakh people from Assam’s citizenship list as these people are directly deemed to be "Bangladeshi" by Indian authorities.
“After the appeal processses are over, the excluded population will be sent to detention camps. What will happen to them after that?” Amit Shah, India’s home minister has repeatedly referred to these 19 lakh people as Bangladeshis,” Shahab Enam Khan, professor of the International Relations department of Jahangirnagar University told The Business Standard on Saturday.
“It will be an expensive process for many, and Assam Cabinet Minister Hemant Biswas has indicated that more action is needed to sort out foreigners. So, we may see arbitrary responses too,” Shahab Enam added.
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He said Bangladesh needs to speak on this issue and take a tougher stance. Even though the Indian government is saying that it is their internal matter, Bangladesh and India should have a bilateral discussion on this issue.
Bangladesh must ask India about the future and settlement of these people. After getting the answer, Bangladesh needs to raise this issue with global leaders, Shahab Enam Khan concludes.
The final National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam, which was updated after 68 years, was made public on Saturday.
A total of 1.9 million applicants out of the 32.9 million who had applied to be included in the list that identifies Indian citizens and weeds out illegal immigrants, failed to make the final cut.
