By Geeta Mohan
Amid appeals to India from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to not send back Rohingya to Myanmar, India deported seven Rohingya Muslims who were in India since 2012 and served jail terms for illegal entry.
The Assam government sent back the seven Myanmarese nationals (Rohingya), who were lodged at Silchar Central Jail in Assam’s Cachar district, to Myanmar via Moreh town in Manipur on Thursday.
This comes a day after the Supreme Court refused to stop their deportation, the first such move by the government.
Union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju, speaking exclusively to India Today TV, said that Rohingya are all “illegal immigrants” in India, not “refugees”.
“The government is making provisions for all of them to be sent back. We will follow the due procedure. State governments have been told to identify illegal Rohingya. Their biometrics will be taken to ensure that they do not get Indian documentation done. Resources in India are finite. Resources are for our people. Illegal immigrants will be identified and repatriated,” said Rijiju.
New Delhi’s move has drawn criticism from the UN, which said the forced return of the Rohingya violates international law.
“The Indian government has an international legal obligation to fully acknowledge the institutionalised discrimination, persecution, hate and gross human rights violations these people have faced in their country of origin and provide them the necessary protection,” UN Special Rapporteur on racism, Tendayi Achiume, said in a statement.
About 40,000 Rohingya live in India, of which 16,000 are registered with the UN refugee agency.
Source: https://www.indiatoday.in