16 September, 2017
Several Union Ministers, as well as Ministers in the Assam government, have in the past said that the Rohingyas are illegal immigrants in India and will have to leave the country. It said in August, the home ministry wrote to state governments, urging them to identify illegally staying Rohingyas and deport them.
The principle of non-refoulement - or not sending back refugees to a place where they face danger - is considered part of customary global law and is binding on all states whether they have signed the Refugee Convention or not. "There is also a serious potential and possibility of eruption of violence against Myanmar government/its diplomatic missions and also against Buddhists who are Indian citizens and who stay on Indian soil by the radicalised Rohingyas".
The issue of illegal Rohingya Muslim immigrants has become hugely contentious as the home ministry has already stated that they were a potential security risk as they were more vulnerable to getting roped in by terror outfits.
Earlier this week, the United Nations' high commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein had criticised India for wanting to deport Rohingya refugees. "The government should also hold talks with governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh to resolve the problems of Rohingya Muslims, so that there exodus from their country is stopped", the BSP supremo said. The attacks were carried out by a little known militant group called Arakan Salavation Army.
The United Nations had appealed to the entire global community to keep the political differences aside and support the ongoing humanitarian efforts to help Rohingya Muslim refugees. "We are really concerned", Ms. Banerjee said in a tweet.
What makes the purported deportation of the Rohingya from India legally untenable is that the Indian government, like any other in the world, is bound by customary global law to respect the principle of non-refoulement. It said that undisputedly India is among nations worst affected by Islamic terrorism. During the case, concerns were also raised about the refugees staying in a sensitive border state that is prone to terrorist activities.
India now has about 40,000 Rohingyas who have escaped in recent years from the rising violence against them in Myanmar and entered the country through the North East border.
Rohingya refugees living in Kelambakkam of Kanchipuram district in Tamil Nadu told Moneycontrol that they were previously living in Jammu where life was harder as there were less opportunities to earn a living and moreoever, they had to pay rent for they shanties they spent days in. Numerous refugees, Centre claims, could be linked to the militant outfits active in the Arakan region.
