The  Supreme Court has refused to pass the order of releasing the detained Rohingyas in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). According to a report in the Leaflet legal portal, the SC, has said that  “It is not possible to grant the interim relief.” The SC has added that the Rohingyas will not be deported unless the procedure prescribed for such deportation is followed.

The ruling came from a bench led by CJI SA Bobde and included justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian. The  order was passed on an interim plea seeking to restrain the Central Government from deporting Rohingya refugees detained in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The SC bench had added that the due procedure that involved proper identification and acknowledgment of their citizenship by the Myanmar government, must be followed and “no Rohingya from Jammu will be deported without the procedure to be followed in such cases,” reported The Hindustan Times. 

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, submitted on behalf of the applicants that news reports had been doing rounds since March 7, 2021 of the nearly 150-170 Rohingya refugees in Jammu being detained, reported the Leaflet. The application stated, “This follows the Union Minister Jitendra Singh’s statements two months ago that the Rohingya (identified as Muslim refugees by the government) wouldn’t be able to secure citizenship. These refugees have been illegally detained and jailed in the Jammu Sub Jail which has been converted into a holding centre with the IGP (Jammu) Mukesh Singh stating that they face deportation back to Myanmar following verification by their embassy.” 

The plea adds that “such deportation would violate the principle of ‘Non-Refoulement’ of refugees, which has been widely recognised in several international conventions to which India is a signatory, and is also recognized as a jus cogens (fundamental and non-derogable) principle of Customary International Law,” stated the report. It was alleged that despite all this the Centre had “failed to carry out their obligations to ensure the protection to the Rohingya community, by proposing to deport them to Myanmar where they face serious violence and persecution.”

According to the report in the Hindustan Times, the government had called the Rohingya “absolutely illegal immigrants” who posed “serious threats to national security”. The Centre also contended that the “right to settle in India could not be asserted by illegal immigrants under the garb of the Constitution’s Article 21”. On March 26 the Centre had opposed the plea by Mohammad Salimullah while emphasising that India cannot become “the international capital of illegal immigrants”. 

On March 6, on the instructions of the Union ministry of home affairs, the Jammu & Kashmir administration started a verification drive of the Rohingya, and moved some of them to a holding centre, pending their potential deportation. Around 170 Rohingya refugees were detained as they reportedly did not have “valid documents”. Hindustan Times had then  quoted Inspector General of Police (Jammu) Mukesh Singh as saying, “These immigrants were not holding valid travel documents required in terms of Section (3) of the Passports Act.” Those detained were lodged at the Hiranagar sub-jail under Section 3 (2) (e) of the Foreigners Act. According to IGP Singh, “Their nationality verification will be done as per the prescribed norms,” adding that “the process to deport these illegal immigrants will be initiated.” 

According to the IE, around 5,000-6,000 Rohingya have set up camps at various sites on the outskirts of Jammu over the past decade. They have all arrived here citing “extreme persecution” back home in Myanmar, and the latest detentions have “triggered despair and anger.” 

Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had on March 26 submitted that a similar application to stop the deportation of Rohingya from Assam was dismissed by the top court in 2018 and that the present application must meet the same fate, reported HT. According to the news report, senior advocate Harish Salve, representing the Jammu & Kashmir administration,  cautioned the bench against “starting a dangerous trend” by interfering with a subject related to illegal immigrants and diplomatic relations with another country.

Related:

Minor Rohingya girl to be deported to Myanmar

Manipur: CSCHR says gov’t must protect Myanmar citizens facing persecution

Will India face the impact of US sanctions on Myanmar military companies?

India seals all entry points along Myanmar border

The post It is not possible to grant the interim relief: SC on detained Rohingyas in J&K appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In the wake of flagrant violations on human rights of CAA-NRC protestors across the country and also in light of the debate over why other minorities like Rohingyas were excluded from purview of CAA, this order comes as a breath of fresh air; leaving some hope for human rights in the courts of law.

The Calcutta High Court on December 24, passed an order staying the deportation of a Rohingya couple to Myanmar. The order was given in response to a writ petition filed by the couple who have, as per their petition, already served their sentence in prison.

The petitioners submitted that now that they have completed their sentence, the government is trying to deport them back to Myanmar. They also submitted that such deportation would be tantamount to a death sentence in view of their plight in Myanmar which has the declared policy of an all-out onslaught on Rohingyas.

The court ruled, “in view of the imminent plight of the petitioners, who, despite having basic human rights in consonance with the Fundamental Rights provided by the Constitution of India as well as the U.N. Charter and the norms of any civilized society, a minimum protection ought to be given to the petitioners till the writ petition is decided, in order to uphold the spirit of humanity, if not the Fundamental Rights enshrined in the Constitution of India, which is the grundnorm of all Indian statutes”

The Court restrained the government by an order of injunction ‘from deporting the petitioners from India during pendency of the writ petition’ and also directed the government to ‘ensure that the petitioners are provided with the basic amenities, compatible with a life worthy of respect’.

The Court went a step ahead and even directed the government to allow the counsel of the petitioners to visit them from time to time.

Rohingyas are an ethnic group, majority of whom are Muslim. They have been denied citizenship in Myanmar since 1982 which has effectively rendered them stateless. They face extreme violence and persecution in Myanmar and hence have been compelled to flee to other neighbouring countries to find harbour. They are considered as the world’s most persecuted minority.

The order can be read here

The post Calcutta HC prevents deportation of Rohingya couple, wins hearts appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: The Hindu

Ever since anti-Rohingya violence broke out in Myanmar, over 1 million people have fled their homes and sought refuge across the world. While the largest number of Rohingya refugees still live in Cox Bazaar in one of the world’s largest refugee camps, many have been granted the opportunity to stay in India. They have been rehabilitated in rehabilitated in Jammu, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR, Haryana and Rajasthan. Rohingyas have faced violence in three waves in 1978, 1991-92 and 2015 and are one of the largest ethnic groups in the world to face relentless persecution and displacement.

However, in wake of the Indian government’s decision to deport them back to Myanmar, where many people fear they will meet violence persecution and certain death, two Rohingya men moved court. The grounds for the petitions were the Indian commitment “to protect the life and liberty of every human being, whether citizen or not.” The petitions argue that deportation would violate India’s commitment to international conventions that recognise ‘Principle of Non-Refoulement’ i.e custom against deporting refugees to a country where they face a threat to their lives. According to their petitions 40,000 Rohingya were registered and recognised by the UNHCR in 2016 and granted refugee identity cards.

Senior Counsel Colin Gonsalves who appeared for one of the petitioners submitted that 60-70 percent of the Rohingya in India had already been given refugee cards and the rest were pending determination. However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta insisted that it was important to decide if illegal immigrants can be granted refugee status before stopping the proposed deportation and allowing them community rights under the international law.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justice Aniruddha Bose were hearing the cases. The SC has agreed to examine the issue and the case has been adjourned to August.

The entire order may be read here: 

The post Rohingya deportation case: SC to examine key question on refugee status appeared first on SabrangIndia.

‘Most importantly, it might pave the way for the Rohingyas, who suffered extremely to get justice they deserve’
 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is exploring ways to conduct investigations into the forced deportations of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas from Myanmar to Bangladesh as a possible crime against humanity, a top diplomat at the Foreign Ministry told the Dhaka Tribune on Thursday.

“This is our best bet to bring those responsible on the other side of the border to account for their crimes,” he said, expressing optimism that the ICC investigation will help solve the Rohingya crisis Bangladesh is facing without being a party to it.
“Most importantly, it might pave the way for the Rohingyas, who suffered extremely to get justice they deserve,” he added.

The diplomat did not specify the date and time of beginning and completion of the investigation.

“If you look at past instances you will see that the ICC investigations are always time-consuming. It does not have its own resources. The court gets the investigations done by the parties of the state,” he explained.

 “Though time consuming, I think it’s worth it. Think about the implications worldwide if the ICC in one year or so, issues an arrest warrant against one of the generals.”

“The ministry and our embassy in The Hague, Netherlands where the ICC is based, are following the developments and we stand ready to provide any assistance in regards to the investigation,” said the diplomat.

Responding to a query, he said: “I don’t have any idea if anyone from the ICC visited Bangladesh in respect of the investigation.”

On September 18, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda issued a statement stating that a preliminary examination into the allegations of crimes committed by Myanmar in forcing deportation of Rohingyas from Rakhine to Cox’s Bazar had begun.

“Since the end of 2017, my Office has received a number of communicationsand reports concerning crimes allegedly committed against the Rohingya population in Myanmar and their deportation to Bangladesh,” she said in the statement.

ICC jurisdiction
“The review of these communications, which constitutes the first phase of my office’s preliminary examination activities, shed light on a preliminary legal issue concerning the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “the Court”), which I deemed appropriate to bring to the attention of the Court’s judges,” said the prosecutor.

“Having received confirmation from the Judges of Pre-Trial Chamber I that the Court may indeed exercise jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of the Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh, as well as potentially other crimes under article 7 of the Rome Statute, I have decided to proceed to the next phase of the preliminary examination process and to carry out a full-fledged preliminary examination of the situation at hand,” she said.

On September 6, the ICC, in response to a request from the prosecutor Bensouda, ruled that the court had jurisdiction over alleged deportations of Rohingya people as a possible crime against humanity.

Although Myanmar is not a member of court, Bangladesh is, and the cross-border nature of deportation was sufficient for jurisdiction, it said in its ruling.

“The Court has jurisdiction over the crime against humanity of deportation allegedly committed against members of the Rohingya people,” a three-judge panel said in a written summary, adding, “The reason is that an element of this crime – the crossing of a border – took place on the territory of a State party (Bangladesh).” 

The post ICC exploring ways to investigate Rohingya deportation as crime against humanity appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
A group of individuals from across the country have come together to write an open letter to Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the light of the recent news that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has instructed the intelligence agencies to make a list of organisations and individuals who are aiding the Rohingya refugees in India.
 
“According to the news story published in the Pioneer (Nov. 19), the list includes the names of a former Ambassador, top lawyers, civil society members and a professor of a renowned university, as well as organisations like the Delhi based Working Group on Alternative Strategies, Bondi Mukti Committee, Kolkata, Kerala Muslim Culture Centre and Amnesty International, India and several others,” they wrote.
 
“Though, the Rohingya do not live in refugee camps. The Indian state, unlike a much poorer country Bangladesh, has never bothered to provide the Rohingya refugees with any economic assistance. The Rohingyas living in India, work for their living, thus adding to our gross national income,” they said in the letter.
 
They also wrote to Singh and said that instead of protecting the Rohingya refugees, he was allowing anti-Rohingya sentiment to grow. They said that in 2017, in Jammu, where about 5,500 Rohingya were living, leaders of several Hindu groups aligned to his party, the BJP began a campaign to expel Rohingya from the region. They said that several BJP leaders have been saying that “Rohingya Muslims should not live here and nor should those who sympathize with them”. 
 
Identifying themselves as sympathizers of the persecuted Rohingya people, they wrote that, “We wonder what will be the next step of your Ministry. Will you prepare a case against the sympathizers of Rohingya like that in which several academics, poets, writers, lawyers and human rights defenders are being persecuted for alleged links with the Maoists in the Bhima- Koregaon case?”
 
“We have never turned people back to where they would be tortured, raped and killed. That is the essence of our ethos,” they wrote talking about the country’s response to refugees in the past.

 
Full Text of the letter:
 
Open letter to Mr. Rajnath Singh, Home Minister of India
 
Sub: MHA prepares a state-wise list of Rohingya sympathizers.
 
Hon’ble Home Minister,
 
We understand from news reports that under instructions from your ministry, the intelligence agencies have prepared a state-wise list of several organisations and individuals, who are sympathetic to the Rohingya refugees in India and are providing assistance to them.
 
According to the news story published in the Pioneer (Nov. 19), the list includes the names of a former Ambassador, top lawyers, civil society members and a professor of a renowned university as well as organisations like the Delhi based Working Group on Alternative Strategies, Bondi Mukti Committee, Kolkata, Kerala Muslim Culture Centre and Amnesty International, India and several others.
 
Hon’ble Home Minister, we are sympathizers of the Rohingyas. They are the most persecuted community in the world. Thousands of people around the world express sympathy with the Rohingya community as they been subjected to massacres, rape, torture, confinement in concentration camps and denial of health care, education and employment by the military junta of Myanmar and the current government under Aung San Suu Kyi.
 
Several governments around the world, Nobel laureates like Mairead Maguari of Northern Ireland, Tawakkol Karman of Yemen, Amartya Sen and Iran’s Shirin Ebadi, civil society organisation and the UN Fact Finding Mission have concluded that the Rohingya are the victims of an ongoing genocide. In 2016, twelve Nobel laureates in an open letter to the UN Security Council in December of 2016 requested intervention to end the humanitarian crisis in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. I may add that earlier, UN SG’s Special Adviser for Myanmar Vijay Nambiar had also called for an impartial investigation into the violence in Arakan/Rakhine state.
 
While a few thousands of Rohingyas are in India, there are more than a million are in Bangladesh. In addition, hundreds of thousands of the members of this persecuted community are scattered all over the region of South-East Asia and South Asia. The systematic persecution of Rohingya ethnic community has been going on since the 1970s. In 1977 the military junta began Operation Nagamin or Dragon King. In the name of “screening the population for foreigners” and relocation of Muslim villagers, the army carried out widespread looting, rape, arson and the desecration of mosques.
 
As a result of continued assaults by the Buddhist vigilante groups and Myanmar army, which has been described as “slow-burning genocide”, more than half a million Rohingyas were already out of their country by 2017 when Myanmar’s military, on the pretext of retaliating the attack by Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launched a massive reign of terror which led to one of the most catastrophically fast refugee exoduses in modern times.  More than 780,000 Rohingya Muslims had to flee Myanmar for Bangladesh.
 
The widespread, systematic, pre-planned burning of tens of thousands of Rohingya homes and other structures in Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and Rathedaung Townships of Rakhine State by the military, Border Guard Police and vigilantes across northern Rakhine State from 25 August until at least October 2017 has been documented and analyzed by many independent civilian groups, governments including the USA and the UN. The UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission in its report to the UN Security Council has called for the investigation and prosecution of Myanmar’s Commander-in-Chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and his top military leaders for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
 
You are aware that Myanmar’s military dictatorship had stripped the Rohingya of their citizenship by enacting a new citizenship/nationality law in 1982. This law violates the long-established globally accepted norms of nationality and a series of international legal instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There is abundant evidence that the Rohingyas were living in Arakan even before the arrival of Buddhists in Rakhine. However, moving away from history, let me point out that there is no getting away from the fact that no state can render stateless, as a matter of policy, people born in its territory under the UN Charter. If a person is born on the territory of a country and has no other legal citizenship, then they must be given citizenship by that country. The Rohingyas are Burmese by birth and according to international law, it does not matter where their distant ancestors might have come from. And no amount of history, factual or fabricated, can change that basic fact. No amount of history can then justify any attempt at ethnic cleansing.
 
Hon’ble Home Minister, the entire world knows that Rohingyas are victims of an ongoing genocide. Yet, your Junior Minister Kiren Rijiju claimed that since the Rohingyas were illegal migrants they could be deported. “Raj Dharma”, which you claim to be following, dictates that you must protect the oppressed and the vulnerable. Yet a letter issued a letter issued by your ministry said, “Illegal migrants are more vulnerable to getting recruited by terrorist organisations. … Infiltration from [Myanmar’s] Rakhine state … into Indian territory, especially in recent years, besides being [a] burden on the limited resources of the country, also aggravates the security challenges posed.” Is it not the duty of the state to guard the “vulnerable” against the unscrupulous and are we such a small country that we cannot help 40,000 refugees. Though, the Rohingya do not live in refugee camps. The Indian state, unlike a much poorer country Bangladesh, has never bothered to provide the Rohingya refugees with any economic assistance. The Rohingyas living in India, work for their living, thus adding to our gross national income.
 
Instead of protecting the Rohingya refugees, it appears that you are allowing anti-Rohingya sentiment to grow. In 2017, in Jammu, where about 5,500 Rohingya were living, leaders of several Hindu groups aligned to your party, the BJP began a campaign to expel Rohingya from the region. Like the Buddhist extremists of Myanmar, they put up posters naming Rohingyas as Bangladesh Muslim migrants, connecting up with long-standing prejudice against Bangladeshi migrants, in Assam and the Northeastern states. They threatened a campaign to “identify and kill” Rohingya if the government did not deport them. [Also] in September 2017, Rohingya refugees living in Rajasthan were asked to leave.
 
Since the publication of the report in The Pioneer, there have been several calls on social media for action against the sympathizers of the Rohingya. The Rohingya sympathizers are being called “pseudo seculars and liberals”, and have been falsely blamed for demanding that the government provide the Rohingya with a home and other necessities. Already there are calls for arresting and prosecuting the Rohingya sympathizers for supporting “terrorists” and “killers of Hindus and Buddhists”. Several BJP leaders have been saying that “Rohingya Muslims should not live here and nor should those who sympathize with them”. 
 
We wonder what will be the next step of your Ministry. Will you prepare a case against the sympathizers of Rohingya like that in which several academics, poets, writers, lawyers and human rights defenders are being persecuted for alleged links with the Maoists in the Bhima- Koregaon case?
 
Last year in August (2017), when human rights groups condemned the government for seeking to deport the Rohingya, Minister Rijiju had claimed, “India is the most humane nation in the world. Millions of refugees live in India. There is no other country in the world which hosts so many refugees.”  Yes, Hon’ble Home Minister, that is the glorious tradition of our country. We have never turned people back to where they would be tortured, raped and killed. That is the essence of our ethos.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Tapan Bose, Filmmaker, Delhi
Anand Patwardhan, Filmmaker, Mumbai
Rita Manchanda, Researcher, Author, Delhi
Sumanta Banerjee, Author, Cultural Historian, Hyderabad
Bharat Bhusan, Editor, Columnist, Delhi
Sahana Basavapatna, Lawyer, Bangaluru
Nandini Sundar, Academic, Author, Delhi
Farah Naqvi, Author, Journalist, Delhi
Arundhati Dhuru, Feminist, Social Activist, Lucknow
Sandeep Pandey, Social Activist, Writer, Lucknow
Jawed Naqvi, Writer, Journalist, Delhi
A.K. (Dunu) Roy, Social Activist, Writer, Delhi
Dinesh Mohan, Academic, Author, Delhi
Alok Rai, Academic, Allahabad
Om Prakash Mishra, Academic, Kolkata
Sushil Khanna, Academic, Kolkata
Ranabir Samaddar, Academic, Kolkata
Pradip Bose, Academic, Kolkata
Gautam Mody, General Secretary, New Trade Union Initiative, New Delhi
Ravi Himadri, Director, Development and Justice Initiative, Delhi
 
(The letter has been slightly edited for narrative flow.)
 

The post Why are you targeting us for sympathizing with Rohingya’s, citizens to HM Rajnath Singh appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In a dramatic turn of events, Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC) chief Md Abul Kalam on Wednesday evening told reporters that a decision on repatriating 150 Rohingyas to Myanmar would be made on Thursday morning.

Those 150 Rohingyas, from 30 families, were scheduled to be repatriated on Thursday.

“We have met with the Rohingya families that UNHCR [Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] listed for the repatriation,” Kalam told reporters. “We sent their opinion [on repatriation] in a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but have not heard from them yet.”
He said the RRRC had taken all necessary preparation to repatriate the 150 Rohingyas.

“I have come to know that the Myanmar authorities have also taken similar steps. But we have to wait till tomorrow [Thursday] for the final decision,” said the refugee relief and repatriation commissioner.

“From our side, we have completed all the necessary preparations. Everything –, including their repatriation pack, transportation, and safety measures –, has been arranged. We are looking forward to carrying out the task along with all our partners here,” the commissioner said.
“We are hoping that we will be able to say precisely how many families will be returned by tomorrow morning,” said Kalam.

“We are still talking to the Rohingya. Our people are working to motivate them. We are hoping to be sure by tomorrow morning how many we can repatriate,” he said.

Responding to Dhaka Tribune’s query if the planned repatriation could be halted, Kalam did not explicitly rule out the possibility, saying simply “We want to remain hopeful.”

Earlier in the evening, a UNHCR delegation went to the RRRC office and held a meeting with the commissioner.

Earlier in the day, Kalam held a meeting with government officials about the repatriation, at RRRC’s Cox’s Bazar office.

Members of the army, police, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and officials from the Additional Divisional Commissioner’s Office and the Deputy Commissioner’s Office were present at the meeting.

Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Md Abul Kalam addresses a press conference in Cox’s Bazar on November 14, 2018 | Dhaka Tribune

Kalam also said that they had plans to repatriate the 30 families from Ghumdhum gorge in Bandarban’s Naikhongchhari Thursday afternoon. They are only waiting to get confirmation from the UNHCR authorities, and all other arrangements have been completed for the repatriation.
“We are hopeful about the repatriation; let’s see what happens,” Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told reporters after attending a workshop on the Fourth Industrial Revolution at a Dhaka hotel on Tuesday, reports BSS.

He said that both Bangladesh and Myanmar were on schedule to kick off the repatriation process, which would see the return of 2,200 Rohingyas verified by Myanmar in the first batch.

“We are informing the listed Rohingyas at the camps in Cox’s Bazar about their repatriation, but if they do not want to go, we cannot do anything,” Shahidul said.

He also said that the repatriation process could also be deferred from Thursday if deemed necessary. “I always say that repatriation is a lengthy process.”

Fled for the hills
Paris-based international news agency AFP said, according to some Rohingya leaders, many of those slated to be repatriated have gone into hiding within the camps at Cox’s Bazar, the border district hosting a small refugee city perched on hillsides.

As a result, it remained unclear how many people Bangladesh would be able to hand over. “About 99% of the families [on the list] have fled,” community leader Nur Islam said.

“Everyone is tense, the situation is very bad,” Abdur Rahim, another leader, said. “There are a lot of army and police inside the camps. They are checking the ID cards of Rohingyas.”

Local police official Abul Khayer, however, played down reports of additional security, saying nothing in terms of personnel had changed in recent months.

‘Reckless’
Meanwhile, Amnesty International on Wednesday called on Bangladesh and Myanmar authorities to “immediately halt” their plans, saying it was a “reckless move which puts lives at risk.”

“These women, men and children would be sent back into the Myanmar military’s grasp with no protection guarantees, to live alongside those who torched their homes and whose bullets they fled,” Nicholas Bequelin from the rights group in a statement.

“Returns at this time cannot be safe or dignified and would constitute a violation of Bangladesh’s obligations under international law,” Bequelin said.

More than 700,000 Rohingyas crossed into Bangladesh from Rakhine since August 2017, after Myanmar launched a brutal military crackdown that was denounced by the UN as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

Bangladesh, which had been sheltering another 400,000 Rohingyas prior to the fresh exodus, has urged the UN and the international community to put pressure on Myanmar to guarantee the safe and dignified return of the refugees.

A senior Bangladesh government official, who is working on the ground as part of the repatriation process, on Tuesday had told UNB that Bangladesh was taking all the preparations in coordination with Myanmar to send the first batch of Rohingyas home on Thursday.

“But the ultimate success of the initiative still depended on the ‘voluntariness’ of the refugees’ decision to return,” the official said.

Another senior official said that UNHCR would assess the willingness of the Rohingyas to return to Rakhine, to make sure that no one was forced to leave.

Officials said the first batch’s return would be a test case to know how Myanmar was treating the Rohingyas, as Naypyidaw had assured their safety and security with confidence-building measures.

An aerial view of Hla Phoe Khaung transit camp for the Rohingyas, who will decide to return back from Bangladesh, is seen at Maungdaw in Rakhine state, Myanmar, on September 20, 2018 | Reuters

Verifications
Earlier, Dhaka and Naypyidaw had agreed to begin the repatriation on November 15, following the handing over to the Myanmar side of a list of 2,260 Rohingyas from 485 families.

Diplomatic sources said that within this figure, a total of 450 Hindus were willing to go back, of whom 66 had valid documents and do not need any further verification.

Bangladesh also handed over a new list of 22,432 Rohingyas to Myanmar during the last Joint Working Group meeting, although this was yet to be verified, an official said.

“Both sides wanted to complete the return of 2,260 Rohingyas first, given all of them are willing to go back,” the official said.

Bangladesh first handed over the list to Myanmar Ambassador in Dhaka U Lwin Oo on October 28, when the UNHCR was also informed to take preparations.

According to Myint Thu, the permanent secretary of Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country has so far verified about 5,000 Rohingyas.

Courtesy: Dhaka Tribune
 

The post Bangladesh: Decision on Rohingya repatriation today appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In the past, on the question of application of international laws for protection of refugees, Indian courts in many cases have protected the rights of refugees.

The post Did the SC Slip in Deporting Seven Rohingya Refugees Back to Myanmar? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: Facebook

Darbhanga: The president of All Indian Muslim Bedari Karwan fro Darbhanga Karwan is allegedly being harassed by local authorities for a speech he gave in the defence of Rohingya’s human rights. Nazre Alam, also Secretary of Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind, has reportedly had many warrants of arrests and FIR against him ever since he gave a public speech to people in support of granting Rohingya people amnesty in India.
 
On September 20, AIMBK took out a protest march at the Darbhanga commissioner Dharna Sthal Maidan in Bihar. The motive of the protest was to bring the ruling govt’s attention to the plight of Rohingya Muslims and grant them amnesty along with citizenship just how it was awarding it to Hindus of neighbouring countries.

 
Led by Nazre Alam, it protested outside the office and reportedly even presented a memorandum of their demands to the commissioner. They said that if their voices would not be heard, they would protest in Delhi.

 
In his speech to the gathered crowd, he spoke about the history of Myanmar, the legacy of Muslim rule in India, the humanity with which India has accepted many refugees belonging to various backgrounds throughout history and how Rohingya Muslims needed to be helped on humanitarian grounds.
 
Some of the words from his speech were video recorded and allegedly edited to make it look like he had made threats to Hindus and said anti-national words. A news channel called Sudarshan News made it look as if he threatened to remove all traces of Hinduism from the country. Alam alleged that the fake clip was circulated everywhere.  

News channel video:

 
Speaking to Sabrang India, Alam said that he has been slapped with FIRs and non-bailable warrants. “Old political leaders in the area are giving my words a communal angle when my speech doesn’t have it. I apologized for causing any hurt to sentiments but that was not my intention and my speech was not defamatory either. These political bigwigs just want to silence people like me. They’re giving the whole Muslim community a bad name and damaging our reputation for the public by fabricating my words,” he said.
 
He added, “If India doesn’t take a strong stance against Myanmar and allows them to torture Rohingya Muslims, what message does it send? If we don’t protect the refugees, we refuse the right to be considered cultured. If we don’t have a culture, who are we? Without a peaceful culture, we won’t have a country, we won’t have the world and we won’t have any Hindus either, that’s what I meant. Why is the media silent when people like Dalai Lama, who practice Buddhism, call Rohingya Muslims terrorist?”
 
His speech at the protest march:
 
ब्यान नजरे आलम

जलाना हमें भी आता है चाहा जाए तो पूरी दुनिया को दो घंटे में जलाकर राख कर दिया जा सकता है। पर हम एसा करते नहीं क्यों कि हम मुसलमान आदम से लेकर आज तक अमन पसन्द ही रहे हैं। तुम तारीख उठाकर देखो दुनिया की कोई भी तारीख हमारे बगैर पूरी नहीं होगी। जब हमने तुम्हारे यहाँ हुकुमत की, हाकिम रहे तब देखो और आज हम जहाँ महकूम हैं वहाँ देखो, तुम्हें अमन के अलावह कुछ भी नहीं दिखेगा, दुनिया में फलने फूलने कि यही वह राज हैं जिसे हमने पा लिया है। तुम्हारे साथ साथ तमाम गैर इस्लाम का औव्वल रोज से ही यही तरीका रहा है नफरत नफरत नफरत बस इस्लाम से नफरत, शायद तुम यह भूल जाते हो कि इस्लाम आज उस मकाम पर है कि तुम उससे किनारहकश नहीं हो सकते, तुम्हें अगर दुनिया में शोहरत या बुलन्दी चाहिए तो दो ही काम करना होगा चाहो तो इस्लाम से मुहब्बत का इकरार करो या फिर नफरत आमेज कलमात कहो और जितना हो सके इस्लाम के खिलाफ काम करो, तभी तुम्हें बुलन्दी व शोहरत मिल सक्ती है।

तारीख में कौन जानता था बर्मा को, अराकान सूबा पर जब खलीफा हारूण रशीद के वक्त मुसलमान ताजिर वहाँ बसे और वहाँ के मकामी लोगों ने उन ताजिरों से मोतास्सिर होकर इस्लाम कबूल कर लिया, यहाँ तक कि अराकान के बादशाह ने भी 1430 ई0 को इस्लाम कबूल कर वहाँ मुसलमानों की हुकुमत बाजाब्तह कायम कर दी, सही मानों में तब जाकर बर्मा आलमी पैमाने पर पहचाना जाने लगा। जैसा कि मशहूर इतिहासकार दीना नाथ लिखता हैः-

‘‘बर्मा का इतिहास बहुत व्यवस्थित और स्पष्ट नहीं है। दसवी सदी के पूर्व तक के इतिहास पर तो एक प्रकार से पर्दा पड़ा हुआ है।’’

(एशिया का इतिहास)
वक्त करवट लेता रहा और साढ़े तीन सौ साल हुकुमत करने के बाद अराकान समेेत पूरे बर्मा पर ईस्ट इंडिया कम्पनी का कब्जा 1826 ई0 को हो गया। अंग्रेज अपनी बुनियादी पालिसी क्मअपकम – त्नसम  के तहत मुसलमानों और राखिने नस्ल के बौद्धों को आपस में लड़ा दिया और फसादात का सिलसिला वहीं से चल पड़ा जो अबतक थमने का नाम नहीं ले रहा है।

पन्द्रह लाख रोहिंग्या मुसलमानों पर जो वहाँ बहुसंख्यक में हैं उनपर जुल्म का सिलसिला बर्मा के 1937  ई0 में आजाद होने के साथ ही लगातार चल रहा है। फिर भी पूरी दुनिया चुप्पी साधे हुई है। एक मुसलमान अपने हक के लिए अगर सिस्टम से तंग आकर आवाज बुलन्द कर ले तो पूरी दुनिया बेचैन हो जाती है पर बर्मा के मुसलमानों पर अबतक ना खत्म होने वाले मजालिम उन्हें नहीं दिखते।

निम्नलिखित में हम आँकड़ा देते हैं कि बर्मा ने मुसलमनों के खिलाफ किस तरह से राखिने नस्ल के बौद्धों और फौजी आपरेशन के तहत मुसलमानों की नस्लकशी की जा रही है, उन्हें बर्मा छोड़ने पर मजबूर किया जा रहा हैः-

1-  1942 को पहला फसाद हुआ और मुसलमानों के कत्लेआम का आगाज कर दिया गया, लग-भग 1,50,000 मुसलमानों को मौत के घाट उतार दिया गया।
2-  1947 में लगातार कई जगहों पर फसाद रूनमा हुए।
3-  1949 से अबतब मुसलमानों के खिलाफ 14 फौजी आपरेशन हुए हैं जिनमें मार्च 1978  का आपरेशन सबसे बदतरीन था। दर्जनों बस्तियाँ जलाकर खाक कर दी गईं। मसाजिद, मदारिस को ढ़ा दिए गए और सितम तो यह है कि इस आपरेशन के बाद अराकान का नाम बदल कर त्ंाीपदम ैजंजम  कर दिया गया, 3,00,000 मुसलमान बंगलादेश में पनाहगुंजी हुए।
4-  1982 में रोहिंग्या मुसलमानों को बर्मी नागरिक्ता से महरूम कर दिया गया।
5-  2012 के फसादात में मजीद 3,50,000 रोहिंग्या मुसलमान हिजरत को मजबूर हुए।
6-  हालिया फसादात में अबतक हजारों मुसलमान को शहीद कर दिया गया। 80,000 के आस पास हिजरत कर चुके हैं।

इतना कुछ हो जाने के बावजूद आलमी मिडिया खामोश है। कहाँ गई तुम्हारी इंसानियत, तुम्हारा इंसानों के खून का दर्द, शायद यह लोग इसलिए खामोश है कि अहले इस्लाम को यह हजरात इंसान नहीं मानते।

हुकूमत-ए-हिन्द का नजरिया भी साफ है वह रोहिंग्या में हो रहे मजालिम के खिलाफ ना ही बोलता है और न ही रिफूयजी को पनाह देने के हक में है। बल्कि उसकी जेहनियत देखिए बर्मा के साथ खड़ा है।

हम हिन्दु भाईयों को आगाह कर देना चाहते है कि अगर तुम वक्त से बेदार नहीं हुए तो पूरी दुनिया में हम तो रहेंगे तुम इतिहास बनकर रह जाओगे।

संयुक्त राष्ट्र (अकवाम-ए-मुत्तहदह) के असूल के मोताबिक अगर कोई मजलूम किसी मुल्क में पनाह लेता है तो उसे वह मुल्क अपनी नागरिक्ता देगा। आज हुकूमत-ए-हिन्द इसकी भी खिलाफवर्जी करती हुई दिख रही है। हम हुकूमत को बता देना चाहते हैं कि जैसा कि मैंने शुरू में कहा है कि हुकूमत होश में आए और जिस तरह से हिन्दु रिफूयजी को Accept करती है वैसे ही मुस्लिम रिफूयजी को कबूल करे।

संयुक्त राष्ट्र (अकवाम-ए-मुत्तहदह) के साथ तमाम इंसाफ पसन्द मुल्क भी बर्मा के खिलाफ होता चला जा रहा है तो किया वजह है हिन्दी हुकूमत अपने आपको उनके खिलाफ जाकर अपना नाम सिर्फ तारीख में दर्ज करवाना चाहती है जिसका कोई भविष्य नहीं है।

बौद्धों के सब से बड़े ओस्ताद (दलाई लामा) ने भी बर्मा में हो रहे मजालिम के खिलाफ खुल कर कहा है उन्होंने यहाँ तक कह दिया कि राखिने नस्ल के बौद्ध, बौद्ध नहीं आतंकवादी हैं, पर अब भी आलमी मिडिया खामोश है। 

हम तुर्की और ईरान का खैर मकदम करते हैं और दुआ करते हैं कि इसी तरह वह मुसलमानों के हक में बोलते रहें और उनके लिए खिदमात अंजाम देते रहें।
 
नजरे आलम
सचिव
दरभंगा जमीअत उलेमा हिन्द
सह-राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष
आॅल इंडिया मुस्लिम बेदारी कारवाँ

We received the speech transcript and news channel video from Nazre Alam.

The post News channel fabricated my speech and called me anti-national appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Open Letter may be read here.

The letter has been signed among others by GK Pillai, former foreign secretary, advocates Prahsant Bhushan and Kamini Jaiswal, journalists Karan Thapar and Sagarika Ghose and others.

Among other things the letter says, “ A humanitarian tragedy is unfolding in Rakhine State, and is spilling over to the Bangladesh where our neighbour struggles to deal with the estimated 400,000 refugees who have fled there from Myanmar. We welcome the Government of India’s efforts to contribute to the humanitarian aid response to Bangladesh, under ‘Operation Insaniyat’. We also commend the Government of India for extending support for the development of socio-economic projects in the Rakhine State, and recognise its contribution as a longer-term solution to address violence and instability in Rakhine State.”
 

The post Open Letter to PM Modi on Rohingya Crisis appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image by Dan Kitwood / Getty

While we wait for the middle-ground kind of solution of the issue, it is important to understand the reasons behind the government’s initial decision to go ahead with the implementation of the apex court’s order. We can think of three which are: first, commitment to legal principles, second, humanitarian concern for the Chakmas and Hajongs, and third, religious identities of the refugees. About the first two we have nothing much to say, but it is the third reason which is deeply unsettling. For the current BJP led NDA government, of course, this is not the case because ideologically, the RSS-BJP is only too happy to have more Hindus (Hajongs) added to the Hindu parivar (family) and its vote bank; the Buddhists (Chakmas) are treated (appropriated) by the RSS-BJP as nearly Hindu, for Buddhism, among others, is an ancient co-Indic (read Hindu) faith. Legally, the BJP, in addition to the Supreme Court order, hopes to amend – through the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 – the Citizenship Act, 1955 which, (if and) when amended, will enable all religious minorities, except for Muslims, fleeing persecution on religious grounds in neighbouring countries to claim, upon completion of a brief period of residence, Indian citizenship. So, whether directed by a 2015 court order or a (future) law, this government is (and expects to be) on a firm legal (plus the ideological) ground regarding the Chakma-Hajong citizenship issue.   

The Chakmas and Hajongs, in all likelihood, will get, as they should, their due soon. However, another eastern refugee group, perhaps far more brutally persecuted on the basis of religion in neighbouring Myanmar, may not be so fortunate. We are talking about the Rohingyas, a Muslim majority, stateless people, who have been, for quite some time now, arriving in India – to its northern and north eastern regions – fleeing the military repression unleashed by the Myanmarese state. In the past, India always maintained a civil and open position regarding refugees and asylum seekers from Tibet, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and so forth. For that matter, it offered shelter to Myanmaris, who fled the last military regime, as well. In most cases the government, with recommendations from the UNHCR, addressed the issues faced by these groups. With the Rohingyas, a large number of whom are registered with the UNHCR too, the earlier humanitarian policy/convention, based on liberal and secular values, has gone for a full toss. The current government, clearly for communal reasons, has refused to grant even asylum status to the Rohingyas because, as Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh says, they are illegal immigrants; their future citizenship is obviously out of the question unless the joint parliamentary committee examining the ideologically crafted, politically motivated Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 rejects it to keep the existing Citizenship Act, 1955 in place. 

In fact, the government’s unabashed arrogance and complete disregard for human dignity, rights, compassion and constitutional justice in dealing with this wretched, helpless community has seen its legal counsel press in the Supreme Court for the deportation of close to 40,000 Rohingyas. The government’s legal stand is problematic and unsustainable on two counts: it goes, one, against the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution (Articles 14, 21) and two, certain signed international declarations, conventions and protocols. Anyhow, the three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice, we are certain, will take serious note of these legal lapses in its upcoming detailed hearings; it will benefit additionally by considering the views of agencies like the UNHCR and the NHRC. At the same time, the court must also prepare itself to legally and forcefully counter the government’s absurd argument (accusation) that all Rohingyas are either already fundamentalists/terrorists or on the road of Islamic radicalisation. This has actually been the government’s prime and long-standing defence of the decision to involuntarily deport the confirmed/potential Rohingya Muslim “terrorists” who, we are repeatedly told, pose a grave threat to the nation’s security.

Indeed, when it comes to something as critical as national security and “greater good”, the BJP led government seems to believe that both legal and humanitarian concerns ought to and can be set aside, if required forcibly and violently. National security is important for sure, and the law and order machinery must do its job of identifying and prosecuting the guilty irrespective of their ethnicity and religious affiliation. But to dub an entire community guilty of unlawful activities including plotting to wage war against (Hindu) India without any admissible evidence and fair trial is not only disgraceful but also dangerous. The Sangh Parivar organisations with BJP as the cheerleader have a long history of targeting and campaigning for the deportation of “illegal” Muslim immigrants from Assam, Delhi and elsewhere. The post-truth politics we hear so much about these days was never unknown to these organisations. In case of the Rohingyas, again, it is about to serve its purpose. Moreover, we now have a democratically elected, BJP dominated government to officially manufacture truths/lies on behalf of the Indian nation.

As BJP and the government go about doing what they please, we must, nevertheless, do our bit. Both civil society and the judiciary are not only unwilling to buy such truths/lies but also resist, in a just manner, their spread. The Rohingyas are Muslims, therefore sinners and untouchables for the RSS-BJP. But they are not so for most Indians, and definitely not all Hindus; Hinduism, unless it is the militant RSS variety, neither preaches nor propagates hatred and xenophobia. Moreover, a very large number of Hindus do not require the RSS-BJP for lessons on self-protection and how to relate and respond to fellow human beings; an equal number believes that it is, in fact, the RSS-BJP which is endangering both the spirit of Hinduism and lives of Hindus. This kind of misrepresented Hinduism results in reverse xenophobia in which case a Hindu is targeted either for simply being a Hindu (in many north eastern states) or being a lesser, imperfect (say, meat/beef eating) one. India, and particularly the Indian state, has rarely allowed religion and the clergy to dictate its policies unlike Myanmar or Sri Lanka. Since this seems, quite unfortunately, to be happening now, it is urgent that we rescue it before it is too late. The Rohingya issue can be a starting point, for it has the support of a secular constitution and a well-meaning, human public. By being sensitive to the plight of Rohingyas, India can show, like it did in the past, that a progressive, secular narrative vis-à-vis a (Theravada Buddhist) fundamentalist one is possible. It can confidently tell its people and the world that nothing is more unethical – unrighteous – and violent than indifference to human suffering.

Nabanipa Bhattacharjee teaches Sociology at Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi.

Courtesy: Kafila.online

The post Bharatiya Janta Party has issues with Rohingyas – Indians don’t appeared first on SabrangIndia.