SRINAGAR — Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have deported around 150 Bangladeshi nationals after discrepancies in their Aadhaar details prompted verification of their nationality, officials said on Monday.
The individuals, who were working as labourers in Kashmir, were flown out in a special Indian Air Force aircraft to Bagdogra in West Bengal, where they were handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF) for onward repatriation to Bangladesh, officials said.
According to an official, the workers were asked to produce their Aadhaar cards during a registration exercise. Discrepancies in the information provided by some of them led authorities to conduct further verification.
Their details were subsequently shared with authorities in Bangladesh, which confirmed their nationality, following which action was initiated under the provisions of the Foreigners Act, the official said.
After being handed over to the BSF at Bagdogra, the deportees are to be escorted to the India-Bangladesh international border for repatriation, according to the officials.
The action comes amid an intensified exercise by the J&K administration to identify and remove foreign nationals it considers to be residing in the Union Territory without valid documentation.
The latest action also follows the field visit of a Centre-appointed High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes to Jammu and the Jammu region from August 10 to 12.
During its visit, the committee inspected the Rohingya settlement at Karyani Talab in Narwal and visited the Jagti Migrant Township, where it interacted with displaced Kashmiri Pandits.
The panel also met J&K Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, DGP Nalin Prabhat and representatives of social and political groups to gather views on demographic changes and immigration-related issues, according to the supplied material.
The committee is headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar and was constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of a high-powered demography mission.
Government data presented during the committee’s visit put the number of identified Bangladeshi nationals in Jammu and Kashmir at 504, including 46 in the Jammu region and 458 in Kashmir. The figures were reported in August.
The administration has also initiated action concerning properties where undocumented families are alleged to have been residing and issued notices to some private landowners, officials said.
Another batch of around 150 Bangladeshi nationals is expected to be deported on October 7, according to officials.
The latest action forms part of the administration’s wider exercise to verify the nationality and documentation status of foreign nationals residing in Jammu and Kashmir.
The article first appeared on The Kashmir Pulse at https://kashmirpulse.com/jk/jk-deports-150-bangladeshi-nationals-after-aadhaar-discrepancies/116711.html
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