India continued to push people into Bangladesh on Friday as the Border Security Force pushed four more people into Bangladesh through two bordering points in Dinajpur and Thakurgaon districts in the early hours of the day.
The number of people pushed into Bangladesh by India since May 7 has crossed 500 though the BGB and the police took tight security measures along the border.
India began pushing people, including Rohingyas and Indian nationals, since May 7 when a war-like situation prevailed between India and Pakistan.
At about 2:00am on Friday, the Border Guard Bangladesh detained two women near the Bairuchuna border area under Pirganj upazila in Thakurgaon and two men near the Ramchandrapur border area under Birol upazila in Dinajpur, BGB officials said.聽
BGB-42 Battalion commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Abdullah Al Moin said that the four were pushed into Bangladesh by 聽the Indian BSF 63rd Battalion area between midnight past Thursday and 1:00am on Friday.
鈥楢ll of them are Bangladesh nationals. We have handed over them to Pirganj and Birol police stations,鈥� he added.
On Thursday, the BSF pushed 105 people into Bangladesh through different border points in six districts. The districts are Cumilla, Feni, Panchagrah, Lalmonirhat, Moulvibazar and Khagrachari.
Addressing a weekly media briefing on Thursday in India, the country鈥檚 external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that they had asked Bangladeshi authorities to verify the nationality of more than 2,300 illegal migrants believed to be from Bangladesh so that they can be deported, Hindustan Times reported.
He also said that the verification of the nationality of many of these people by Bangladesh had been pending for almost five years.
鈥榃e have asked the Bangladeshi side to verify their nationality. We have a pending list of 2,369 of people who are required to be deported,鈥� Hindustan Times quoted him as saying.
While talking to reporters at the foreign ministry in Dhaka on Wednesday, foreign affairs adviser Md Touhid Hossain said that Indian nationals pushed into Bangladesh would be sent back to their country.
Touhid said that India had shared a list of individuals alleged to be Bangladesh nationals, which is currently under verification by the Bangladesh home ministry.
According to the BGB, it has detained 429 people from the bordering areas in districts including Khagrachari, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Feni, Cumilla, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Thakurgaon, Dinajpur and Panchagarh since May 7.
On May 9, the BSF and the Indian Navy allegedly pushed 78 people, including three Indian nationals, into Bangladesh through the Mandarbaria area under the Satkhira range of the Sunderbans West Forest Zone.
According to Bangladesh authorities, Bangladesh has 4,156 kilometers of border with India, of which some 180 kilometres fall on water bodies over various parts and 79 km through the Sundarbans.