UN urges Bangladesh, India to resolve ‘push-ins’ through dialogue

UN secretary-general’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric has called on Bangladesh and India to resolve the issue of “push-ins” of people across the border through dialogue and respect for human rights.

He made this remark while responding to a question at the regular press briefing at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday.

A journalist asked how the UN secretary-general views the situation where hundreds of children and women are at extreme risk along the Bangladesh-India border, as well as children are crying due to hunger, while women are sleeping under the open sky.

In response, Dujarric said, “I think it is incumbent on the two countries to work out this issue through dialogue and full respect for people's human rights and human dignity.” 

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India pushing ethnic Bengali Muslims into Bangladesh unlawfully: HRW

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Wednesday told the Jatiya Sangsad that the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) had prevented 36 push-in attempts by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) since the West Bengal assembly polls. 

He added that 2,369 people had been pushed into Bangladesh since 5 August 2024, with 2,175 handed over to police stations, 11 returned to the BSF, and 183 pushed back.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) also accused Indian authorities of forcibly expelling ethnic Bengali residents, mostly Muslims, from the West Bengal state to Bangladesh without due process. 

In a statement on Tuesday, the New York-based rights group said actions by BSF and BGB’s efforts to block entry left dozens of families stranded at the “zero line” between the two countries.

HRW also urged India to stop unlawful expulsions, ensure procedural safeguards, verify citizenship with Bangladeshi authorities, and end what it described as “this dismaying animosity toward Muslims.”