The ongoing process of the National Register of Citizens in India’s Assam state may result in a mass displacement of Bangalis from the region and create another refugee crisis for Bangladesh, senior officials of the Bangladesh government said on Wednesday. According to the Indian national daily The Hindu, officials during their New Delhi visit said the situation in Assam was “threatening” India-Bangladesh ties and would be exploited by “anti-India elements and Islamic fundamentalists” who are opposing the Awami League rule. However, all that effort will go in vain, undoing bilateral cooperation, if there is a new refugee flow from Assam. With two major floods in 2017 and the Rohingya crisis, further turmoil caused by the citizen register in Assam will add to the volatility of the country ahead of the general polls, the officials added. They further said the citizen register in Assam was “reminiscent of the communalism of the 1940s.”

Source: Dhaka Tribune February 22, 2018 08:32 UTC