Singapore: India on February 5 urged Bangladesh to co-operate in reducing tension in their borders and take back the illegal immigrants.

"We would urge government of Bangladesh to co-operate in the matter and see that illegal immigrants are taken back by Bangladesh," Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani told a press conference in Singapore, rounding up his five-day two-nation tour of Thailand and Singapore.

Certain steps had been taken to check illegal immigration in pursuance to decisions of a meeting of chiefs of police and security agencies in New Delhi couple of months ago, he said, adding "this is a reaction" to these steps.

"The matter should be based on truth. It cannot be based on total lies and untruth," he said when asked to comment on the prevailing border tension between the two nations.

He said for a long time, the global community has been fully conscious of "the major problem of massive illegal immigration from Bangladesh" faced by India and added that this was not confined only to the border areas but also other parts of the country.

"This mass of population is spread all over the country, including in Delhi, Mumbai and other parts where there are colonies where only Bangladeshis live.

"This is a hard reality, but Bangladesh has all along denied that there is any illegal immigration. Though there is a school of opinion in Bangladesh that our country is too small and we need more land. But that is to try to justify and rationalise illegal immigration," Advani said.

PTI