India plans to deport 40,000 refugees
India's government is looking to deport an estimated 40,000 Rohingya Muslims back to Myanmar (Burma), including those registered with the UN refugee agency, a senior official has said.
Deputy Interior Minister Kiren Rijiju told Reuters news agency over the weekend that the Rohingya living in India were illegal immigrants and must be deported.
"As far as we are concerned they are all illegal immigrants," Rijiju, a high-profile minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government, said. " They have no basis to live here. Anybody who is illegal migrant will be deported."
Their registration with the UN refugee agency was irrelevant, he said.
Thousands of Rohingyas were forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh after Myanmar security forces launched a crackdown in the wake of a deadly attack late last year. Many of them crossed the border into India. Others have also fled to southeast Asia, often on rickety boats run by people-smuggling gangs
Rijiju told parliament last week that the central government had directed state authorities to identify and deport illegal immigrants, including Rohingya.
HRW's Ganguly said she was worried that Rijiju's comments could encourage vigilante violence against the Rohingya community in India.
More at:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/india-plans-deport-thousands-rohingya-refugees-170814110027809.html
