Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has raised vigilance at all bordering areas in Sylhet after about 19.7 lakh people were excluded from the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) in India’s Assam.

BGB officials in Sylhet said that they were alert at the bordering areas with India’s Assam and Meghalaya states since the draft list of the NRC was declared last year and the vigilance has been raised following the publication of the final NRC list.

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Options for those excluded from Assam NRC

Sylhet’s Zakiganj, Kanaighat and Beanibazar upazilas and Moulvibazar’s Barlekha, Kulaura and Kamalganj have border with Assam; and Companiganj, Jaintiapur and Gowainghat upazilas have border with Meghalaya, which is in the southern side of Assam.

“Till now, there are no suspicious activities at the borders, but the situation might deteriorate if NRC excluded people try to enter Bangladesh or India tries to push them in,” Lt Col Sayeed Hossain, commanding officer of Zakiganj BGB Battalion-19, said.

The BGB official said, “We have alerted all our regular patrol duty teams to be more vigilant and enforce more frequent patrol duty. We have also alerted the locals of the bordering area to inform us about any irregular movement in the border.”

Lt Col Ahmed Yusuf Jamil, commanding officer of BGB Battalion-48, said, “Even though my battalion are on duty at the bordering area with Meghalaya, we have been alerted to be more vigilant as the northern part of Meghalaya is Assam and the influx might come through Meghalaya.”