India has sent over a 1,000 diplomatic notes (notes verbale) and 456 “consolidated reminders” to Dhaka since September 2020 regarding the repatriation of suspected illegal Bangladeshi immigrants but has not received “an actionable response”, a diplomatic document has stated.
The numbers were mentioned in the note verbale that the External Affairs Ministry sent to Dhaka on April 30, hours after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh summoned the Indian envoy to protest against remarks made by Assam’s then Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. He had claimed in a media interview that under his government, Indian border guards were “pushing in” suspected Bangladeshi individuals through unguarded parts of the land border.
