This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.
An alarming rise has been noticed in the number of Bangladeshi nationals trying to cross over to Pakistan illegally through Jammu and Kashmir. And if they are apprehended by the Indian security forces, they are only questioned and allowed to go free. Some even settle in the Jammu area raising hackles in the local population.
Sources in Border Security Force (BSF) disclosed that as against 454 Bangladeshi nationals arrested till May 31 this year, about 150 have been arrested alone in one and half month which indicated that there has been sharp increase in the arrival of Bangladeshi nationals to Jammu.
In the month of June, 60 Bangladeshi nationals were arrested which include 49 from R S Pura Sector, six from Samba and five from Akhnoor while in the last 20 days alone the number has been increased to 83. There is hardly any day when Bangladeshi nationals are not being arrested by the security forces along the International Border while attempting to exfiltrate to Pakistan. [Daily Excelsior]The politicisation of illegal Bangladeshi immigration has left some real security concerns unaddressed. The extremely forgiving attitude to illegal trans-migrants is just a case in point - it is absurd that those who fail to cross the border into Pakistan are handed the consolation prize of settling down in Jammu. The human-trafficking racket that it has created can provide another dangerous twist to an already complex story in Kashmir.
Arun Shourie draws attention to the concerns raised by Indian intelligence agencies for close to two decades on the matter of illegal immigration. But the new government will be doing a disservice to the nation if it were to view this issue in a partisan light. Better relations with Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi people are desirable in their own right and do not in any way preclude India from taking a firm stance on illegal immigration by Bangladeshi nationals.
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