India Tomorrow
New Delhi, Jan 21—Unfolding the latest episode in the exponentially growing Rohingya refugee crisis, atleast 31 Rohingya people are now reportedly stranded at the no man’s land between the Indo-Bangladesh border in Tripura.
While the Border Security Force (BSF) has issued a statement that the stranded group was brought by the Border Guards of Bangladesh (BGB) from the Brahamanbari border-town in Bangladesh and pretended to detain them on the border fence falsely showing that they were coming from India, its Bangladeshi counterpart has alleged that BSF has been pushing the refugees into the Bangladesh territory.
In 2012, Myanmar military had launched a counter-insurgency movement, under the garb of which, it attacked and persecuted the Muslim minority there, also known as Rohingyas, who had been living there for centuries. Fearing for lives, a mass exodus of Rohingyas took place with 7,00,000 of them taking refuge in various parts of the world including the West. In India, Rohingyas have been living primarily in Jammu, Hyderabad and capital New Delhi.
As per the international law, there is a mandated distance of 150 meters between the border fence and the international border. Meanwhile the BSF has been providing the refugees food and shelter on humanitarian grounds.
Despite the fact, that the stranded refugees have the UNHCR Refugee identification cards (which acknowledges the right of a citizen persecuted in one’s own country to take refuge sanctioned by the UN in a country where one would feel safe) the persecuted community spread all over the world as refugees are now running out of their options for survival in the Indian sub-continent after India deported seven Rohingyas from Silchar on October 3 last year and a family of five Rohingyas back to Myanmar authorities three months later on January 3. Both the deported groups were lodged in Indian jails on the charges of illegally crossing into India. Apart from that, the state government of Assam had declared on October 10 last year that it will deport 23 more Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.
The Indian government termed them as ‘national security threat’ in 2017, and denying the refugee status by refusing to recognise the cards, thus violating the principle of refoulement-that is to send persecuted back to one’s country. Even the President of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had called them as “termites” in a rally in September last year.
Perhaps the most shocking outcome of the fear psychosis gripping the Rohingya refugees is that 2000 of them, including hundreds of families, have fled India for Bangladesh in a matter of few months fearing deportation to Myanmar, according to a report published by Reuters. Not only that, they faced threats of extinction by Jammu Chambers of Commerce and Industry which called for an “identify and kill” movement all the 7000 Rohingyas living there as claimed by a youth leader Mohammad Arfaat who left India after staying for six years in Jammu, according to the report.
Rohingya preference for Bangladesh arises from the development that the Bangladeshi government had halted the move to deport them to Myanmar after massive protests by the refugees there last November. Bangladesh has given refuge to 7,00,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled there from Myanmar since. This is almost 70 percent of the total population (over 1 million) of Rohingyas who escaped from Myanmar. Apart from India, even Saudi Arabia deported 13 Rohingyas to Bangladesh.
Out of 40,000 Rohingya refugees, only 18,000 are registered with UNHCR. While taking cognizance of the latest development the UN expressed grave concern and stated that “Indian Government has an obligation to refer Rohingyas under their custody to the UN refugee agency so their protection needs can be assessed and proper information provided to them about their rights.”
(With media inputs)
