India asks Dhaka to hasten nationality verification of 2,862 ‘illegal Bangladeshis’ for repatriation

India on Thursday said that New Delhi expects Dhaka to expedite the process of verifying the nationality of undocumented Bangladesh migrants so that they could be repatriated “in a smooth manner”.

During the weekly press briefing, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal also said that more than 2,862 cases of nationality verification are pending with Bangladesh, “some for over five years”.

The statements came against the backdrop of remarks made by Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections on Monday.

Replying to a question about reports of Indian border guards “pushing in” persons into Bangladesh, Rahman said that Dhaka would take “whatever measures are necessary on that issue”.

Since the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in April 2025, the police in several states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party have been detaining Bengali-speaking persons – mostly Muslims – and asking them to prove that they are Indian citizens.

Several persons have been forced into Bangladesh after they allegedly could not prove their Indian citizenship. In some cases, persons who were mistakenly sent to Bangladesh returned to the country after state authorities in India proved that they were Indians.

Scroll has also reported on several cases of persons who were forced into Bangladesh being brought back to India, as...

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