Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday told reporters that the exclusion of more than 19 lakh people from the list of citizens in India's north-eastern state of Assam is “India’s internal matter.” “Bangladesh has nothing to worry about,” he told journalists at Agargaon in the capital. The journalists were seeking the official reaction after the news of the list, known as the National Register of Citizens (NRC), broke early yesterday.

“Our borders are kept vigilant. We are observing the situation,” said the minister. The NRC was published after years-long exercise aimed at identifying legal residents in the impoverished border state of neighbouring India. A total of 3.11 crore people were included in the final list, leaving out 19 lakh

people, according to a statement from the Assam government.

During his recently concluded Bangladesh visit, Indian External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, assured Dhaka that there was nothing to worry about on the NRC issue.

“We said we are already in serious trouble with 1.1 million Rohingyas. He [Jaishankar] said ‘you don’t worry at all about it’,” Momen told some reporters at his ministry office on August 20.

Experts on international relations, however, asked Bangladesh to remain cautious about the situation.

Talking to The Independent, Dr Delwar Hossain. Professor of International Relations of Dhaka University, said he doesn’t believe that the issue of Assam NRC has yet become a “bilateral issue between Bangladesh and India. It is still an internal matter of India of course. But the way some of their media are terming those people as Bangladeshis is a matter of concern.”

He said even Indian opposition parties, such as the Congress and Trinamul, are opposing the NRC and the BJP government’s move in Assam.

“So, let’s see how it plays out in India. But I would suggest that the Bangladesh government should be prepared on the diplomatic front.”

Former ambassador FM Humayun Kabir told The Independent that the process through which the NRC was being prepared and published indicates that it is “completely an internal matter of India.”

“At this point, what we can do is monitor the situation closely and if the situation warrants, we can articulate our policy position and raise it with our neighbour,” he said.