NRC is internal matter of India, says Bangladesh

Bangladesh on Monday described the publication of draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam as an “internal matter” of India and said it would not interfere.

The second and final draft of the NRC is scheduled to be published on July 30, a date set by the Supreme Court.

“The issue has not been raised at the official level by the Government of India with the Bangladesh government at any stage,” High Commissioner of Bangladesh Syed Muazzem Ali said.

“So, as of now this is an internal matter and I have seen conflicting positions of different Indian states on this particular issue and I will not interfere in an internal matter,” he told reporters here.

The high commissioner said the issue can only become “bilateral” only after the Indian government takes it up with the Bangladesh government.

Ali was asked whether his country has made any decision in the backdrop of the expected publication of the draft NRC on July 30, leading to a possibility of people moving across the border to their territory.

“As of now I do not want to get into the details. We all have gone through the newspapers and we all know the origin of this crisis. My only request to everybody is let sanity prevail,” he said.

Assam, which had faced influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20^th century, is the only state having an NRC, which was first prepared in 1951.

Terming the Rohingya issue as a “man-made” one, the Bangladesh diplomat requested the Myanmar government to take back their citizens.

“We do not have any bilateral problem with Myanmar.  Myanmar’s problem is that they are not willing to recognise the people in their Arakan region as the citizen of their country.

“So if you do not want to recognise your people as your own and start sending them to my country, then it’s a problem,” he said.