Rohingya face threats in India and Nepal, too

NEW DELHI: Detested in Myanmar, the Muslim Rohingya desperately seeking sanctuary will get a new reminder today of just how unloved they are in India, too.

As the number of Rohingya fleeing a military crackdown for Bangladesh refugee camps races past 400,000 in three weeks, the Indian government is to put its case to the country’s Supreme Court for expelling up to 40,000 who have arrived over the past 10 years.

According to media reports, the government will argue that the Rohingya are a security threat who could aid terrorists.

Civil rights campaigners and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein have strongly opposed India’s move.

Many experts question where India could send the Rohingya, even if the government gets Supreme Court backing.

The plight of the Rohingya in India, and even in neighbouring Nepal, highlights the difficulty the international community faces finding them a long-term home.

There are 16,000 Rohingya registered in India according to the UN, but many more are undocumented.

Officials say nearly 7,000 live in shanties in Jammu in the Indian Himalayas, where they started arriving in 2008.

Jammu itself is Hindu majority but is part of the same Indian state as neighbouring Kashmir, where India is fighting separatists – which is what worries the New Delhi government.