Dhaka, July 20 - Over 300 people rescued from their sinking boats and detained on Andaman island for the past many months have nowhere to go as countries India say they belong to do not want them.

After the Indian Coast Guard rescued the Malaysia-bound people from their engine-less boats off the Andaman Island, diplomatic efforts to send them back home have not succeeded so far.

Bangladesh says it will take only 149 of them, identified as citizens by its home ministry.

'India is putting pressure on Bangladesh,' New Age newspaper said Monday after Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty met Acting Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mirajul Quayes.

Chakravarty requested that Bangladesh take them all back, but Dhaka has refused.

There is also a Myanmar angle to the misery of the 'boat people'. A number of Rohingyas, the Muslim tribals on the western side of the Arakan ranges, have been fleeing the country to escape from the present regime.

While some board boats provided by unscrupulous touts promising them jobs, thousands have fled to Bangladesh.

Quayes told the Indian envoy that he could not take back the Rohingya refugees stranded on the Andamans as Dhaka was in the diplomatic process with Yangon to resolve the long-standing issue.

Earlier in March, Bangladesh brought home at least 49 of its nationals who had been stranded on the Andamans for more than two months.