Students from Northeast not harmed or targeted in Bangladesh: Indian officials

GUWAHATI: Amid the raging violence over job quota in Bangladesh forcing the country's top court to scale it back on Sunday, over 800 students from India, Nepal and Bhutan have returned through the northeastern region to date. Of them, about 679 students returned through the Akhaura and Srimantapur check posts of Tripura since the clashes broke out last week.

Close to 150 students from Assam crossed over to the Indian side through integrated checkpoints in Sutarkandi (Assam's Karimganj district) and Dawki (Meghalaya) during the period.

The heartening development, officials in Assam said, is that there have been no reports of students from the state or other parts of the northeast being targeted or harmed in the strife-torn country.

Assam govt has deployed its personnel in Dawki to closely monitor the developing circumstances, while also keeping a track of the flow of students from Assam House in Shillong.

The state's home department sources said about 90 students from the state entered through Dawki, while 48, including a few from Nagaland and Tripura, entered through Sutarkandi over the week.

Most returnees are from Dhaka, Sylhet

Assam's home department sources said though close to 150 students from the state crossed over to India follwoing the unrest in Bangladesh, the actual number of students may go even higher, as the compilation of figures is still on.

The majority of these students safely returned from Dhaka and Sylhet in Bangladesh by road, unscathed by the ongoing unrest. They travelled via buses, and upon entering Assam, their guardians promptly received them.

The deputy commissioner and SP of Karimganj personally visited Sutarkandi, and both the police and administration are diligently monitoring the situation round the clock at the integrated check post in Sutarkandi.

"About 90% of the students who entered through Sutarkandi are from Assam. They informed us that there was no incident of harassment or violence on their campuses, and that they returned as a precautionary measure," DC Mridul Yadav told TOI.

The students are optimistic about the situation returning to normal in a month, after which they plan to go back to Bangladesh, he added.

Sutarkandi is situated far from Guwahati, and Akhaura post in Tripura is even farther away from Assam. Most of the students from Tripura have returned through Akhaura.

Meanwhile, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that the state police had swiftly thwarted an attempt by five Bangladesh nationals who were trying to enter India through Assam. However, Sarma did not specify the exact location where this infiltration bid was foiled on July 18 at 3am.


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.