New Delhi [India], May 2 : Former Indian diplomat Veena Sikri has termed Bangladesh's decision to summon the acting Indian High Commissioner Pawan Badhe over remarks made by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as "completely unnecessary", saying the underlying issue of illegal immigration should instead be addressed through structured dialogue between the two countries.
Speaking to ANI, Sikri said the development was avoidable given the long-standing sensitivity and complexity of migration issues between India and Bangladesh.
"Well, I think it was quite unnecessary, completely unnecessary, because the illegal immigration from Bangladesh to India is a real problem. It's a problem that both sides have to recognise and deal with it," Sikri said.
She added that there has historically been limited but notable acknowledgement of the issue in bilateral relations, pointing to a past agreement during the tenure of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
"In all these years of India-Bangladesh relations, right since the time of the Liberation War of 1971, there was only once when actually this problem was recognised and accepted by both sides," she said. "And that was when Begum Khaleda Zia was Prime Minister for the first time..."
Sikri recalled that during Khaleda Zia's 1992 visit to India, both sides had acknowledged the issue in a joint statement.
"I think it was, then the document, the joint statement issued at the end of the visit, actually mentioned the problem of illegal immigration," she said. "It said that the problem of illegal immigration exists from people coming from Bangladesh to India. Both sides recognise that, and they will solve the problem through dialogue."
She stressed that dialogue remains the most effective way forward."So actually that's what should happen, there should be a discussion between India and Bangladesh on this," Sikri said.
Referring to India's domestic measures, she noted that enforcement steps have been strengthened in recent months."Ever since the Government of India, in the last few months, has taken some very strong measures against illegal immigration, they've said that every state has to have a detention camp to house the illegal immigrants," she said, adding that penalties and deportation procedures have also been tightened.
She further claimed that some individuals are voluntarily returning to Bangladesh after documentation checks. "A lot of people are going back on their own, and they just, they have their Bangladesh ID card; they are citizens of Bangladesh. So when they go back to Bangladesh, the Bangladesh local, the border guarding authorities, the BGP, they have to accept them because they have their documentation," she said.
Criticising Dhaka's diplomatic response, Sikri said summoning the acting Indian High Commissioner late in the day was not appropriate."This business of calling the acting Indian High Commissioner late in the evening like this, this is not a friendly act and it should not be done," she said.
Earlier, the Bangladesh government had summoned the acting Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Pawan Badhe, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lodge a formal protest regarding recent comments allegedly made by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. According to a report by the Dhaka Tribune, the diplomatic intervention followed remarks concerning the repatriation of individuals from the Indian state of Assam.
The acting Indian envoy was summoned on Thursday afternoon, during which the protest was formally conveyed by Bangladeshi officials.
During the proceedings, Dhaka voiced its concerns over the nature of recent public discourse and emphasised the necessity of "avoiding comments that might hurt bilateral ties."
This diplomatic friction followed a statement made by Sarma on April 26, in which he noted that 20 foreign nationals were apprehended in Assam and subsequently "pushed back to Bangladesh".
In a post shared on the social media platform X, cited by media reports, the Chief Minister remarked, "Rude people don't understand soft language. We continuously remind ourselves of this prophetic line when we expel infiltrators from Assam who don't leave themselves. For instance, these 20 illegal Bangladeshis who were pushed back last night."
Bangladesh maintained that public statements of this nature are "counterproductive" and have the potential to strain the relationship between the two neighbouring nations.
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