India, Bangladesh differ on 'illegal immigration' issue

New Delhi: While the bonhomie between New Delhi and Dhaka remains intact, both neighbours hold divergent views on the contentious issue of 'illegal immigration' from Bangladesh.

For the first time, Home Minister Amit Shah categorically raised the 'India's concern regarding the illegal movement of undocumented persons across the border' in the recently held bilateral meeting with visiting Home Minister of Bangladesh Asaduzzaman Khan.

Without mentioning the ongoing process of the National Register of Citizen (NRC) in Assam, Shah did propose a mechanism ' to find a solution to this problem, especially in North-East India.

The Bangladesh minister with his delegation met PM Modi before leaving for Dhaka on August 8, and went satisfied with the assurance given by the PM on cooperation with Bangladesh. Bangladesh issued a statement saying PM Modi expressed a desire to participate in the centenary birthday celebration of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

After a marathon meeting held in North Block, both countries could not arrive at a consensus because Bangladesh is of the view that no such migration is taking place to India after 1971. Finally, the idea of issuing a joint statement was dropped, instead, both countries decided to come out with their individual statements.

After that Amit Shah had a one-to-one restricted meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart and later secretary-level meetings went on till late night.

Later Bangladesh High Commission issued a statement where the issue of illegal immigration was not mentioned. However, the statement issued by the Union Home Ministry did mention the issue of illegal immigration and the proposals made in the 7th joint meeting between India and Bangladesh.

The statement issued by Bangladesh High Commission spoke of Home Minister Amit Shah being invited to Dhaka. It also claimed that both the ministers expressed satisfaction about ongoing cooperation between two countries on the border and they wanted to keep up that momentum. The home ministry statement said that both neighbours agreed on the need for greater cooperation to achieve the aim of a secure border.

Despite the different views on illegal immigration Shah reiterated India's full support for PM S K Hasina's development agenda. Both the ministers reiterated the significance attached to the bilateral relationship.