Thoseleft out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are not stateless orforeigners, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) made it clear on Thursday.MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar stated that no country allows an illegal personto stay in its territory.

Itmay be mentioned here that his remarks came after a recent statement by UnionHome Minister Amit Shah in Assam. Kumar said, "Can somebody tell me, whichcountry allows an illegal person to stay in its territory. Of course, dueprocess has to be followed and it is being followed."

He maintainedthat it has been conveyed to the Bangladesh Home Minister that the NRC is aninternal matter of India.

Kumaralso said that NRC is a legal process and "Whatever has been told by the courthas been followed by the executive." Kumar asserted that there is no bias orprejudice. "The 1.9 million people have the right to appeal before the ForeignersTribunals', High Court and the Supreme Court," he added.

On theother hand, the MEA spokesperson said that foreign journalists who wants tovisit Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states, including restricted areapermit (RAP) and protected area permit (PAP) states, will have to seek priorpermission of the Government of India.