Foreign

India to deport over 10,000 Rohingya Muslims from occupied-Kashmir

April 5, 2017

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Myanmar Rohingya — FILE - In this Dec. 2, 2016, file photo, Rohingya from Myanmar make their way in an alley at an unregistered refugee camp in Teknaf, near Cox's Bazar, a southern coastal district about, 296 kilometers (183 miles) south of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Newly revealed video of Myanmar police beating Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine state has weakened months of government claims that its forces have not committed abuses in the region since a deadly insurgent attack in October. The footage has made it more difficult for the government to say at least some abuses are not happening and sown doubts into its dismissals of more grievous allegations. (AP Photo, File)

NEW DELHI: The Indian government plans to deport over 10,000 Rohingya Muslims, who belong to Myanmar but are currently living in occupied Kashmir.

The Rohingya Muslims are mostly living in Jammu and Samba districts, Indian media reported.

The issue of Rohingya Muslims was discussed at a high-level meeting convened by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and attended by occupied Kashmir Chief Secretary Braj Raj Sharma and Director General of Police SP Vaid.

“The Ministry is exploring ways and means to identify and deport the Rohingya Muslims from the State,” the New Indian Express quoted a Union Home Ministry official after the meet.

The newspaper further claims the Rohingyas Muslims are accused of raising funds for militant activities through drug trafficking and smuggling by the country’s intelligence services.

Rohingya Muslims are numbered at around 5,700, but the number could go up to 10,000. There are around 40,000 Rohingya Muslims living in different parts of the country. Even though some of them are registered with a UN refugee body, India does not recognise them.

Myanmar’s government considers the estimated 800,000 Rohingya in the country to be foreigners, while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and view them with hostility, the BBC reports.

The country has been accused by UN officials of committing ‘crimes against humanity’.

The United Nations human rights body agreed in March to send an international fact-finding mission to investigate widespread allegations of killings, rape and torture by security forces against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.