Tripura police detain 10 illegal Bangladeshi Hindus

Agartala: Ten Bangladeshi Hindus were detained by the Tripura Police on Saturday for illegally entering India. The detained include two women, three teenagers and an elderly person. They were detained from Ambassa railway station in Tripura while they were trying to board a train bound for Silchar in Assam, IANS reported.

“We will initiate legal proceedings against the Bangladeshi nationals as per law,” the official said.

Sankar Chandra Sarkar, one of the persons detained, said, “After trekking through forested hills, we entered India on Saturday through Kamalpur (in Tripura's Dhalai district). We were trying to go to Silchar in Assam to stay in a rented house.”

"We will never return to Bangladesh under any circumstances. The situation in Bangladesh is very grim. Attacks on the lives and properties of Hindus have become an everyday affair,” Mr Sarkar, who worked as a driver, claimed.

Talking to the media, the Bangladeshi nationals said they sold some of their properties before fleeing to India but had to abandon many of their properties and household goods and assets.

Sarkar also claimed that thousands of Hindu families wanted to come to India but were unable to do so for various reasons.

“During the Awami League government headed by then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we were happy, and there was no enmity between the Hindus and Muslims in our areas. But after the caretaker government headed by Muhammad Yunus assumed office, we were continuously harassed and threatened,” he claimed.

However, a poll by the Voice of America Bangla inferred that 64.1 per cent of Bangladeshi minorities feel that the current interim government offers a greater security guarantee than what the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League offered.