Military

DATE=02/06/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-299286

TITLE= INDIA/BANGLADESH (L-ONLY)

BYLINE=ANJANA PASRICHA

DATELINE=

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: India says more than 200 people stranded at the border between India and Bangladesh have been taken back by Bangladeshi authorities, ending a six day-standoff. However, Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi that it is not clear just where they went.

TEXT: Indian officials say Bangladeshi border guards allowed the 213 people, most of them snake-charmers, to cross back into Bangladesh before dawn Thursday.

Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary Shamsher Chowdhury, however, says the government has no evidence or information that the people had entered Bangladesh.

The group had camped on the border for nearly a week, as both countries wrangled over their nationality.

New Delhi insisted they were illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Dhaka said they were Indian Muslims being forcibly pushed into Bangladesh. The argument heightened tensions on the border.

Despite the conflicting versions, tensions between the neighbors appear to have eased.

/// ACT ADVANI IN HINDI, EST & FADE ///

Indian Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani says the "immediate crisis" is over, but illegal immigration from Bangladesh continues to pose a problem. He says the government will take steps to resolve the issue.

A senior official with the Indian Border Security Force, K-C Sharma, says border troops remain ready to prevent illegal immigration from Bangladesh.

/// SHARMA ACTUALITY ///

Forces are still on alert so that Bangladeshi Rifles may not try to push back these people or some other Bangladeshi nationals into Indian territory.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

Indian officials say there are about 20 million Bangladeshis living in India illegally. They say the migrants come in search of work, and merge easily with the population in West Bengal state because they speak the same language. Last month, New Delhi announced a drive to deport illegal migrants people, calling them a security risk.

Dhaka denies that its people migrate illegally into India, and has accused India of trying to force hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslims across into Bangladesh in the past two weeks.

Relations between Bangladesh and India are friendly, but the issue of illegal immigration has always been a sensitive issue between the two countries. (signed)

NEB/HK/AP/KPD