INDIA FENDS OFF UN CRITICISM
India’s decision to deport Rohingya refugees from the country triggered a verbal duel between UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad alHussein and the government.
“I deplore current measures in India to deport Rohingyas at a time of such violence against them in their country,” Mr Zeid said, addressing a Human Rights Council session here.
Some 40,000 Rohingyas have settled in India, and 16,000 of them have received refugee documentation, the UN estimates. Minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju on September 5, said Rohingyas were illegal immigrants and stand to be deported. He said nobody should preach India on the matter.
India, however, lashed out at Mr Zeid for his comments against India on various issues including deportation of Rohingyas.
Saying that it was “perplexed” at the remarks which showed “inadequate appreciation of the freedoms and rights that are guaranteed and practised daily” in India, a “vibrant democracy”, the statement, by ambassador Rajiv K. Chander, permanent representative of India to UN, added that individual incidents were being “extrapolated” to paint a broader societal situation.
India said that it is “concerned about illegal migrants, in particular with the possibility that they could pose security challenges”, and added that “enforcing laws should not be mistaken for lack of compassion”. “Tendentious judgements made on the basis of selective and even inaccurate reports do not further the understanding of human rights in any society,” he said.
THE UN High Commissioner for Human Rights noted MoS Rijiju had reportedly said that because India is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention it ‘can dispense with international law on the matter’