Bangladesh keeps its eyes open on NRC issue: Foreign Secy

Despite telling us that National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam is an internal matter of India but Bangladesh is keeping its eyes open on the issue, said Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque.

"We were told that this is an internal matter of India. Our relationship is best of the best at present. But at the same time we are keeping our eyes open (on the issue)," Haque said at a press conference in New Delhi, India, reports news18.com.

On Saturday, visiting Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina raised her concerns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over roll out of NRC in Assam, an exercise carried out to identify genuine Indian citizens living in Assam and weed out illegal Bangladeshis.

"Prime Minister Modi has explained to Prime Minister Hasina the process that India has put up in terms of making sure that everybody is eventually included in this (NRC)," said Shahidul Haque.

Asked about Home Minister Amit Shah's comments that illegal Bangladeshi's from Assam would be deported, the Bangladeshi foreign secretary said: "We should not make a crisis out of nothing at this stage and we should be able to wait and see."

Government sources said the Indian side conveyed to Hasina that publication of the NRC was a court-monitored process and the final scenario on the issue is yet to emerge. Haque said Bangladesh is not worried about the issue at the stage.

The NRC has been prepared to identify genuine Indian citizens living in Assam since March 24, 1971, or before, and identify illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the state. Out of 3.3 crore applicants, over 19 lakh people were excluded from the final NRC published on August 30.