After maintaining a stoic silence for quite some time over the updation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, the Bangladesh government for the first time has expressed concerns over the entire exercise.
"While we should not be worried, there is some anxietyafter reading news reports," Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momentold a local television channel recently.
"We are already in many difficulties with the 11 lakh [Rohingya refugees], so we can't take anymore. Bangladesh is the most densely populated country on the planet," he further added.
The Bangladesh Foreign Minister also denied that the people identified under the NRC process were Bangladeshi immigrants and said, "The people that have been there for 75 years, they are their [India's] citizens, not ours."
It may be mentioned here that in 2018, after the NRC has published its first draft list of 40 lakh undocumented migrants, Bangladesh denied it has anything to do with the matter.
"Firstly, we see this as an internal, local political issue with the Indian state of Assam. It has nothing to do with Bangladesh. The Indian government has not discussed this issue with us, nor do we have any intention to take it up with India as it is an internal matter of India, our friendly neighbour," the Bangladesh Information Minister Hasanul-Haque Inu said.
