Jammu may not be safe, UNHCR tells Rohingyas
› What if the UN later tells us that Delhi is not safe, go to Kolkata? What if they then tell us to go back to Myanmar? ROHINGYA REFUGEE
Jammu/new Delhi Just past noon on November 8, two United Nations officers from Delhi waited for about two dozen Rohingya refugees in a white, ground-floor room in Jammu with a message: “You may face problems or dangers in Jammu, move out if you want, we will fund you,” several refugees said.
The Rohingyas, mainly Muslims, had fled Myanmar because of a military crackdown against them in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, reached Jammu after travelling through Bangladesh and crossing the border in West Bengal. They are spread out in several refugee camps.
But protests by members of the BJP and JKNPP have added an element of uncertainty to their stay in Jammu. The protestors have been demanding the Muslim refugees be ousted from Jammu, calling them “illegal”.
The UN officers, who belonged to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), along with UNHCR’S partner organisations, later visited Rohingya refugee settlements in Jammu with the same message, according to refugees at the five settlements.
“They came here and said that we may face problems in Jammu and they will give money if we want to go to Delhi, Hyderabad, or Mewat,” Iman Sheriff, 22, said outside his shack in Channi Rama of south Jammu.
The aid from UNHCR includes travel expenses, assistance to build a shack in the new place, and ration for a month, according to the refugees.
When reached for a comment on the relocation of refugees from Jammu, UNHCR, which protects refugees and resolves their problems worldwide, told IANS that it had been “supporting some refugees in Jammu who wish to move to other locations”.
A UNHCR spokesperson said it was due to “protection concerns, among other reasons”, but did not elaborate. “At this stage, we are only able to provide this information,” a UNHCR email response read.
When asked what made them to stay despite protests, Anwar Hussain, 26, said, “We are used to Jammu, we know everyone over here, why would we leave?”
“What if the UN later tells us that Delhi is not safe, go to Kolkata? What if they then tell us to go back to Myanmar?” asked another refugee.
In September, the UN had termed the operations targeting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.
The Indian government in August had termed Rohingyas a “security threat” and asked states to identify and deport them.