Missing: a million BanglaDesh visitors

by NISHIT DHOLABHAI

New Delhi:

Over a million Bangladeshis who have entered India legally through Bengal since the 1970s cannot be traced, official figures said today.

The disclosure, made by the Border Security Force, swivels the spotlight from the problem of illegal immigrants who have been streaming in across the border for decades.

BSF director-general A.K. Mitra said that between 1972 and 2005, the entry of over 1.2 million Bangladeshis had been cleared by immigration counters on the Bengal border. “There is no record that they have returned,” he said.

Mitra was speaking to reporters on his return from the India-Bangladesh border co-ordination conference held in Dhaka through this week.

Concern over Bangladeshis overstaying their visa or illegally entering India took centre stage in the past two years after a series of blasts were linked to radical Islamic groups with connections in Bangladesh.

Home ministry sources said talks between the home secretaries of the two countries were on the cards, where the issue of the missing Bangladeshis would be discussed.

Thousands from Bangladesh come to Bengal every year, mostly for medical treatment in Calcutta, while hundreds visit the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer Sharif. This is apart from the thousands entering Assam through the north-eastern border.

While many of these Bangladeshis are believed to have moved into Delhi, Mumbai or smaller but prosperous towns like Jaipur, the bulk of them live in Bengal.

“Yes, there is demographic and geographical closeness, but for several years the state government has been trying its best (to deal with those overstaying),” a senior Bengal police officer said.

Driving away illegal immigrants, too, has become more difficult than before, the officer admitted. State officials pin the blame on procedural changes made by Dhaka.

Suspected illegal immigrants are first tried in a court and then convicted. The state government concerned then sends the list of names to the BSF, which forwards it to Bangladesh Rifles. It is then up to the Bangladesh government to confirm the nationality of the illegal immigrants and take them back.

“There are many who have completed jail terms but have not been accepted by Dhaka. What do we do with them?” a Bengal police officer told The Telegraph.

However, experts say deportation does not pose as much of a problem as detection of illegal immigrants. BSF officers complain that investigating agencies do not inform the force of arrests, undermining security concerns. “We only come to know through newspapers,” DGP Mitra said.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080826/jsp/nation/story_9744332.jsp