India seeks progress in migrant row

The Bengali speakers were caught in limbo

The Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Morshed Khan has met his Indian counterpart, Yashwant Sinha, to discuss ways to defuse tension over illegal immigration.

It is the duty of both countries to do everything possible to ensure a peaceful border

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Morshed Khan

Earlier, Mr Khan called for better immigration controls between the two countries to tackle the issue.

Last month, India began trying to deport hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslims, saying they were illegal immigrants. Bangladesh said they were Indian nationals.

The dispute led to a state of high alert on their common border.

'Breach of law'

Mr Khan's Delhi trip is a direct result of an invitation from India to resolve the two sides' dispute over the group of Bengali-speaking Muslims.

Fears had grown for the health of those trapped in no-man's land

Dhaka says Delhi is in breach of international law and wrongly identified the group as illegal immigrants.

Delhi says the two countries have an agreement that if people are detained while crossing the border on both sides, the country to which they belong should immediately accept them.

Bangladesh says in the past month, India has tried to force more than 2,000 Bengali-speakers across the border and that the overwhelming majority of them are Muslims from the Indian state of West Bengal.

But an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman said they had documentary evidence the disputed people were actually Bangladeshi citizens.

'Millions illegal'

Before leaving Bangladesh, Mr Khan told the BBC that he hoped to resolve such contentious issues through dialogue.

However, he dismissed Indian allegations that his government had failed to recognise that India had legitimate security worries over infiltration from Bangladesh.

But he said small-scale intrusion was difficult to check as the border was so porous.

He also said that Dhaka had its own concerns - in particular, about the continued presence in the country of a large number of Urdu-speaking people originally from the Indian state of Bihar.

LK Advani wants more action from Bangladesh

Last month, India announced it would take action to deport 20 million Bangladeshis who it said were illegal immigrants.

And Indian Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani has urged Bangladesh to take back "illegal immigrants" from India.

Relations between India and Bangladesh have historically been good, but they have soured over the immigration issue.