-Anurag Pathak/ 19.4.2017
Centre is mulling over a proposal from J&K govenment to deport over 10,000 refugees belonging to Rohingya muslim community, living ‘illegally’ in the state. The issue has been deliberated at a high level meeting convened by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, with J&K Chief Secretary Braj Raj Sharma and Director General of Police SP Vaid attending. “The ministry is exploring ways and means to identify and deport the Rohingya Muslims from the state”, declared a Union Home Ministry official after the meet.
Not more than a week ago 12 huts habited by Rohingyas were gutted in a fire, inside a refugee camp in Jammu, that inhabits Rohingyas, leaving 4 of them were completely destroyed. The fire was widely acclaimed to be handiwork of the right wing communal elements, despite denial of authorities, as only few days ago the Jammu Chamber of Commerce had issued a statement threatening to “identify and kill all Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshi immigrants settled in Jammu if they were not deported within a month”. Rakesh Gupta, president of the JCC, added that Rohingya refugees were “a possible human bomb and harbors to be used by militant organisations.” The president of the Chamber, a federation of over 100 traders organization, continued to mark Rohingyas as “criminals and drug traffickers disowned by their own country.”
