February 4, 2003	Tuesday	Zul Hijjah 2,1423

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SATGACHI (India), Feb 3: More than 200 people, most of them snake-charmers and their children, were trapped on the India-Bangladesh border on Monday as the neighbours argued about which country they came from.

Indian officials said they were Bangladeshi nationals who tried to cross over into Indian territory on Friday morning, but were stopped by border guards who asked Bangladeshi troops to take them back.

Bangladeshi officials refused to accept the snake-charmers, saying the 213 people were Indian Muslims being pushed into Bangladesh by India’s border guards.

The Indian government handed an aide memoire to the Bangladeshi high commissioner in New Delhi on Monday, urging Dhaka to take back what the foreign ministry said were its people.

“It is hoped that those who were caught will be accepted and taken back,” an Indian foreign ministry spokesman said. “Documentary proof has been given, they came from Bangladesh. There are electricity bills, proof of residence.”

“The question that any Indian citizen is being pushed into Bangladesh is absurd.”

The snake-charmers and their families have spent the past three days living in open fields with just some plastic sheets for shelter.—Reuters