New Delhi, May 22: India on Thursday urged Bangladesh to expedite the nationality verification process to facilitate the deportation of a large number of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India who are required to be sent back.

Addressing a weekly media briefing, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that people who are staying in India illegally, whether they happen to be Bangladeshi nationals or any other, will be dealt with as per law.

"We have a large number of Bangladeshi nationals in India who are required to be deported. We have asked the Bangladeshi side to verify the nationality. We have a pending list of more than 2360 cases of people required to be deported. Many of them have completed the jail process. In many cases, the nationality verification process has been pending since 2020," said Jaiswal.

Illegal migrants enter India without valid travel documents in a clandestine, and surreptitious manner, thus making it extremely difficult for the authorities to have a correct estimate of such people residing in the country.

Earlier this month, at least five Bangladeshi citizens were arrested and later pushed back by security personnel in Assam's South Salmara district on the charges of illegal infiltration.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that the Bangladeshi infiltration has spiked up in the last few months due to the collapse of the textile industry in the neighbouring country, leaving many people jobless there.

"So far, we have arrested around 1,000 Bangladeshi people in the last few months. They were pushed back immediately after their arrest," Sarma stated while highlighting that the economy of Bangladesh has collapsed due to growing unrest.

Additionally, in a significant crackdown on illegal immigration, Delhi Police detained six Bangladeshi women from different parts of the national capital this month and busted a sprawling network involved in trafficking people from the neighbouring country into India. Authorities confirmed that the detained women were residing in India without valid documentation and will be deported.

Last month, in one of the largest crackdowns on illegal immigration in Gujarat, the state police arrested more than 1,000 Bangladeshi nationals in a single day. Acting under the guidance of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and the leadership of Minister of State for Home Affairs Harsh Sanghavi, Ahmedabad Police detained 890 individuals while Surat Police arrested 134 illegal immigrants.

Bangladeshi media recently reported that India's Border Security Force (BSF) pushed around 300 people, including Rohingyas, into Bangladesh between May 7 and May 9 through remote points along the border. The report further stated that following this, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry wrote a letter to India raising concern over people being pushed into the country.

--IANS

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