Representation Image | Courtesy: Al Jazeera
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has ordered the union territory’s administration to identify all illegal migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh in its jurisdiction and compile a list within six months. This was in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that was originally filed in 2017 by activist Hunar Gupta, who is now the Deputy Advocate General of the UT.
Brief background
When the massacre of Rohingyas began in Myanmar, hundreds of thousands of them were forced to flee their homes, and seek refuge in countries like Bangladesh and India. In fact, even today, the largest Rohingya refugee camp is located in Cox Bazaar in Bangladesh.
India eventually admitted as many as 40,000 Rohingya refugees, as per official figures. These refugees were processed as per provisions laid out by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is the UN’s agency dedicated to protecting and defending rights of refugees. They were given refugee cards and settled in various designated areas across India. One of the largest settlements is in Jammu. Today Rohingya refugees live in camps in Delhi, Rajasthan, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
But just as the “illegal migrant” narrative has been increasingly drummed up in Assam to warn against an influx of “outsiders” from Bangladesh, a similar narrative is now being spun about “illegal migrants” from Myanmar. The right-wing ecosystem is already busy making as yet unverified claims of these refugees having acquired voter IDs and Aadhaar cards. In fact, even the PIL by Gupta alleges as much.
The Indian Express quoted excerpts from the PIL where it alleges that these so-called “illegal migrants” from Myanmar and Bangladesh “are suspected to be involved in various anti-national activities, including drug trafficking and hawala transactions at the behest of the enemies of the nation” and that “their stay was likely to result in the rise of pro-separatist and anti-India activities in the communally sensitive Jammu region that has so far displayed maturity and tolerance.”
The PIL had sought not only the ouster of these people from Jammu, but also withdrawal of any benefits extended to them.
The Court’s observations
The HC referred to a government order passed by the erstwhile state on May 24, 2017, wherein it had suggested constituting a group of ministers to look into various allegations surrounding migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh. According to Indian Express the bench observed, “The group of ministers was supposed to take up the matter, examine it and to furnish a report thereof. But, till date, nothing has come on record,’’ adding that “in the meantime, the state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated and UT of J&K created.’’
On April 6, the HC direct the UT’s administration to identify all such migrants and compile a list within 6 months. Meanwhile, Additional Advocate General Raman Sharma also reportedly accepted that the government “would evolve a robust mechanism” for the purpose of conducting such an identification exercise.
Are Rohingya’s facing institutional violence?
Meanwhile, Rohingya refugees claim that they are being watched, harassed and persecuted by Indian authorities. Recently, Sabber Kyaw Min, ounder and director of Rohingya Human Rights Initiative, was detained by Hyderabad Police. A Rohingya refugee himself, Min is one of the most respected leaders of the migrant community in India and is based out of Delhi. But on March 25, Min alleges, that he was not only picked up on baseless charges while on a visit to Hyderabad, but also prevented from contacting anyone for a long time. When he was allowed to speak to someone, it was with the police listening as the call was conducted on speaker phone. But what’s worse is that the moment Min complained about how he was being harassed, a policeman slapped him! Read his exclusive interview to SabrangIndia here.
Then on March 30, around 25 Rohingya refugees were rounded up in Ramban in Jammu and Kashmir, and sent to a holding centre. Min says, “They were part of two groups who were attending a Tablighi Jamaat event. After verification, they were sent to a holding centre in Hira Nagar in Kathua. All the refugees carry their valid refugee card.” He further shared that they had come from Narwal to Gool in two groups and headed to two mosques – Masjid Karara Sangaldan and Pangana Masjid Dar Mohallah Sangaldan on the evening of March 29, 2022. The men, aged between 17 and 72 years, were detained the following day and first taken to Maitra Hall in Ramban before being taken to the holding centre in Kathua.
NewsClick quoted a local police official as saying, “They have been sent to the holding centre as part of the procedure adopted by the Jammu and Kashmir government.”
Amnesty International condemned the detention tweeting, “The detention of 25 Rohingya refugees belonging to the Tablighi Jamaat in Jammu & Kashmir’s Ramban district is an abject dereliction of India’s human rights obligations and an egregious violation of international law.” It further explained, “Despite being home to thousands of refugees, India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees and does not have a domestic legal refugee protection framework.” Therefore, Amnesty International further explained, “The treatment of refugees falls largely under the Foreigners Act of 1946, which makes no distinction between asylum-seekers, refugees and other foreigners. The Act makes undocumented physical presence in the country a crime.”
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