New Delhi, April 4: Implementing the rules under Foreigners Act, Central Government has decided to identify, arrest and deport Rohingya Muslims, who entered India through Myanmar.
Home ministry has estimated 40,000 Rohingyas, who had fled their homes in Myanmar who are staying illegally in various places in India as refugees after being disowned by Buddhist Myanmar.
Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi chaired a meeting in New Delhi on Monday making an assessment of the illegal Rohingya immigrants in India.
The meeting was also attended by J&K chief secretary and DGP, joint secretary (J&K) in MHA and senior BSF and intelligence officers. They discussed possible ways to identify such immigrants.
Rohingya Muslims entered the country from Myanmar and have been living in in different places of India including Jammu since the past 5-7 years. They will be likely arrested and deported under the Foreigners Act.
Home ministry has estimated 40,000 Rohingyas, who had fled their homes in Myanmar who are staying illegally in various places in India as refugees after being disowned by Buddhist Myanmar.
They follow three infiltration routes for entering India; by sea, via Bangladesh border and via Chin area on Myanmar border.
Also, there are around 3 lakh Rohingyas living in Bangladesh alone.
As per TOI report, 5,500-5,700 of the Rohingya immigrants are based in Jammu alone, though the home ministry fears the number may be 10,000-11,000 if a true count is taken.
Although the United Nations Human Rights Commission has recognised around 14,000 Rohingya Muslims living in India as ‘refugees’, the Indian government did not accept this status and considered them as mere foreigners who entered the country illegally.
As per Indian constitution, this is a violation of the Foreigners Act, which provides for detection, arrest, prosecution and deportation of “illegal immigrants”.
However, the implementation of this decision is not that easy as Myanmar does not accept them as its citizen and instead, calls them “Bengali interlopers”.
Even though Rohingya Muslims are peacefully living in India without links to any terror activity, security agencies suspect them to be more prone to radicalisation than Indian Muslims and could pose a threat in the future.