Asserting India as close friend, Bangladesh FM AK Abdul Momen terms ‘CAA, NRC India’s internal matters’

Dhaka, December 23: Changing the dynamics of India’s political frame, the NDA government took a bold step in passing the Citizenship Amendment Act which has now created a stir across the nation. With the CAA and NRC being India’s internal matter, the international nations especially Bangladesh has voiced its stand by asserting the same as saying, “CAA and the NRC are India’s “internal issues”, but only noted that it may duly affect the neighbouring countries.

 

Bangladesh Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen hoped that the situation “cools down” and the neighbouring country “can get out of it” amid the wide protest taking place across India over CAA. According to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 following religious persecution there will get Indian citizenship. Protests are being held across India ever since a bill was introduced in Parliament earlier this month. The bill was passed by the Parliament and signed into law by the President.

“The CAB (now Citizenship Amendment Act) and the NRC (National Register of Citizens) are internal issues of India. Indian government assured us again and again that these are their domestic issues, they are doing it because of legal and other reasons,” Momen responded media after been asked about the CAA and the protests against it, especially in the northeastern states.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while talking to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had assured that under no circumstances it will affect Bangladesh, Momen said. The minister asserted that his country trusts India. However, he said, “We are the No.1 friend of India. So, if there is uncertainty in India, it is likely to affect its neighbours. When there was an economic downturn in the US, it affected many countries because we live in a global world. So, our fear is that if there is some uncertainty in India, it might affect its neighbours”.

Momen had recently said Bangladesh has requested New Delhi to provide a list of Bangladeshi nationals living illegally in India, “if any”, to be repatriated. He, however, cleared that they would only accept Bangladeshi citizens to return. “Only Bangladeshi citizens have the right to come back,” he said adding, “if anybody other than our citizens enter Bangladesh, we will send them back.”

Clearing his government’s stance on India’s NRC exercise, he said it would not affect Bangladesh as India had termed it as an internal matter. He also tried to end the rumours on his cancelling India visit. He said his visit was going to coincide with the Martyred Intellectuals Day and Victory Day, and also the absence of the State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam and the ministry's secretary in the country made him defer his tour.