Rohingya to be deported
SCORES of Rohingya who fled persecution in Myanmar are being held in a detention centre in the Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir, an official said last Sunday (7), after being rounded up ahead of their expected deportation to the protest-wracked nation.
At least 168 people from the Muslim minority from Buddhist-dominated Myanmar were picked up by authorities in the northern territory since last Saturday (6), Jammu’s Inspector General of Police, Mukesh Singh, said.
“After nationality verification of these illegal immigrants, details will be sent to the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi to be taken up with Myanmar for their deportation,” Singh said.
Some 5,000 Rohingya are believed to live in Jammu and Kashmir, Singh said. Most live in slums in Hindu-majority Jammu, where they say they have faced threats to their lives.
“It’s better to shoot us all dead here than send us to Burma (Myanmar) where we will be rained with bullets anyway,” a Rohingya, who gave his name as Rafique, said in a phone call last Sunday.
“We haven’t slept since police started rounding us up and separating our children from their families,” Rafique, who lives in Jammu’s Bathindi area, added.
The United Nations says there are 16,000 registered Rohingya in India, but many more are believed to be undocumented.
The government of prime minister Narendra Modi has for years asked state and territory governments to identify and deport the approximately 40,000 Rohingya it says are living in India.
New Delhi has described the Rohingya as a security threat and accused them of having links with the Islamic State and other Muslim extremist groups – charges denied by the community.