City police keeping an eye on Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar, who have sought refuge and settled in Hyderabad after intelligence inputs suggesting terror threat from them.
In fact, after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) nabbed Khalid Mohammed, a Rohingya, from Balapur last November in connection with the Burdwan blast case, the city police perception had changed.
Though the city police have not talk about Rohingya Muslims being in touch with radical groups abroad, but police believe could be easily exploited by extremists to take up radical paths.
According to police records as many as 1679 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar live in parts of Hyderabad and Cyberabad after their exodus in June 2012 in the aftermath of ethnic violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar to various parts of India.
A senior police officer on condition of anonymity said “Since they are poor, uneducated and alien to the land here, they are likely to be exploited and might be used by hardliners. There is no hard evidence to suspect anyone and police are maintaining total surveillance.”
Mazher Hussain, Convenor, who has been working with the refugees, said. “Their living conditions are pathetic. Most of them are illiterate or semi-literate and do daily wage jobs and earn Rs 6,000-7,000 per month,” said Hussain. “Many of them are yet to be united with their relatives”, he added.
However a police officer said that “There is no hard evidence in the blames against them. Other than offences relating to fake passport or Aadhaar, they have not been involved in any act threatening the security of the nation,”