14 Bangladeshi Tabligh Jamaat members who had attended the Nizamuddin Markaz congregation in March 2020 returned Bangladesh through Benapole checkpost on Friday night (August 6th) after serving four months in jail for violating visa requirements.
As many as 46 foreign nationals from Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Kazakhstan have completed the quarantine cycle and have been for more than three months in detention in India. The Indian government after receiving requests from foreign governments started repatriating them.
The returnees are Saad Saiful Islam, Ismail Hossain, Alamin, Fazlul Haque, Akib Hasan Mahmud, Ferdous Al Mahmud, Hafizur Rahman, Mohiuddin, Nur Mohammad Sohan, Aminur Islam, Mahbubur Rahman, Sheyab, Ariful Islam and Raushan Ahsan Mohin.
Benapole Checkpost Immigration OC Mahasin Kabir said they were taken into institutional isolation at 11:40 pm on Friday for administrative security. Check post police and health officials said he would return home after 14 days of quarantine at Jhikargachha Gazi Dargah in Jessore.
Union Home Ministry of India has already blacklisted and cancelled the tourist visas of these Tablighi Jamaat members for violating visa conditions by engaging in missionary activities while in India.
As per rules, they have to land on a Missionary Visa. In fact, they have to fill in an application that explicitly asks them if they are going to do religious work in India. In the US, this application form has to be filled by everyone applying for a visa. But to avoid monitoring, these Islamic Preachers landed as Tourists. According to highly placed officials, the Government has also decided to blacklist all these foreign Islamic preachers in the future.
BS/