Centre affidavit on Rohingyas soon SUSHMA: INDIA WITH DHAKA IN REFUGEE CRISIS
New Delhi, Sept. 15: The Centre will file an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Monday on its plans to deport Rohingya Muslims, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday.
The Supreme Court had asked the government to file the affidavit on a plea against the deportation of illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants to Myanmar.
“We will file the affidavit in the Supreme Court on September 18,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
The plea, filed by two Rohingya immigrants, Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir, who are registered as refugees under the United Nations High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR), claimed they have taken refuge in India after escaping from Myanmar due to widespread discrimination, violence and bloodshed against the community there.
They challenged their deportation on several grounds, including violation of international human rights conventions. The issue came to the fore after the Union home ministry had in July said illegal immigrants such as the Rohingyas posed grave security challenges as they might be recruited by terror groups. It had directed the state governments to set up a task force at district level to identify and deport illegally- staying foreign nationals. — PTI Dhaka, Sept. 15: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has expressed solidarity with Bangladesh over the Rohingya crisis and said India was pressuring Myanmar to take back refugees who have fled the Buddhist-majority nation, a top aide of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister said on Friday.
More than 300,000 Rohingya Muslims have poured into Bangladesh since the latest flare-up in violence on August 25, adding to around 300,000 refugees already living in Bangladesh, close to the border with Myanmar.
“She (Swaraj) called our Prime Minister on Thursday and conveyed her country’s solidarity with Bangladesh over the Myanmar refugee issue,” Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina’s deputy press secretary said. — PTI