Indian authorities have trucked hundreds of its Muslim citizens to the border with predominantly Islamic Bangladesh and tried unsuccessfully to force them at gunpoint to cross the frontier, Bangladeshi officials said Friday. There was no immediate reaction from Indian authorities to the claim, although New Delhi has responded to similar allegations in the past by saying that those being deported are Bangladeshis who illegally entered its territory in search of work. Commanders of Bangladeshi border guards said on condition of anonymity that their troops barred the Bengali-speaking Muslims, which included women and children, from crossing the border at five different locations this week. They said their forces even fired shots into the air to stop the forced deportation. Border security forces were on high alert following the incidents, the officials said. Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry on Thursday gave a protest letter to the Indian Embassy in Dhaka expressing concern about reports that hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslims were being gathered at the border. "We have expressed our concern," Foreign Minister Morshed Khan told reporters. "It should not be the policy of any country to push people into another country."
