NRC process internal to India, no implications for you, India tells Bangladesh

By Naz Asghar

March 2, 2020

Dhaka: India on Monday sought to reassure Dhaka that the process of updating the National Register of Citizens in Assam would in no way affect the people of Bangladesh.

The NRC ” has taken place entirely at the direction and under the supervision of the Supreme Court of India. this is a process that is entirely internal to India. Therefore there will be no implications for the Government and people of Bangladesh,” Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said in Bangladesh Institute for International Studies (BIISS).

This fact has been repeatedly confirmed at the highest level to the Government of Bangladesh, he said, adding,” . You have our assurance on that count.”

Coming to the issue of the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the Foreign Secretary said that India deeply appreciated humanism that motivated Bangladesh to offer shelter to nearly one million displaced people at an enormous burden.

Shringla said, as the only neighbour of both Bangladesh and Myanmar, India was committed to offering the fullest support for any mutually-acceptable solution that will enable the earliest possible return of displaced persons to their homes and a dignified life in Rakhine state.

“This should be done in a manner that is safe, secure and sustainable,” he said.

India has provided five tranches of aid to the camps in Cox’s Bazar area through the Bangladesh government, and is prepared to do more.

He said India was also investing in the socio-economic development of the Rakhine area, including housing, so that there is an incentive not only for people to return, but for all communities to focus on cooperative solutions for economic development, rather than compete for limited resources.

The Foreign Secretary said India is consistent in its interventions with the government of Myanmar at all levels, on the importance of closing Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps, facilitating socio-economic development projects, and in offering a conducive environment to encourage displaced persons to return to their homes in Myanmar from Bangladesh.

Shringla stressed that India and Bangladesh were on the same page regarding the way forward on the issue of Rohingya refugee crisis.

During his address, the Foreign Secretary spoke of various other areas of cooperation between the two countries, like connectivity and sharing of river waters etc.

”It is entirely in India’s national interest to fully support your own efforts to build a strong, prosperous, progressive, peaceful and harmonious Bangladesh; to build a nation that stays true to the extraordinarily far-sighted vision of Bangabandhu. Your astonishing successes in improving socio-economic indices – from infant mortality to women’s education; from primary health to literacy – has been given new energy by the world’s most impressive economic development rates. Today it is Bangladesh that is leading Asia’s development race, a miraculous achievement that merits every word of praise,” he said.
–India News Stream