Indian government says Rohingya Muslims are security threat

The Centre further said in its affidavit in the SC that militant elements among the Rohingya are active in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mewar and Jammu.

“We are poor. We managed to buy the bamboo and tarpaulin with people’s help, and now I have to relocate again”, said Mujibur Rahman, a 48-year-old Rohingya father of 10.

To this, the apex court bench said “We want to first see the legal position”.

The Rohingya are considered to be among the world’s most persecuted people.

Myanmar’s systematic and violent effort to rid itself of Muslim Rohingya may quite honestly be called ethnic cleansing.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked several police posts in the northwestern portion of the Rakhine state on August 25. The predominantly Buddhist Myanmar considers them Bangladeshi, but Bangladesh says they’re Burmese. “They are illegal immigrants”, he said. Hundreds have died, mostly Rohingya, and some of the refugees have needed treatment for bullet wounds.

On Sept.13 The New York Times ran an article called The Rohingya in Myanmar: How Years of Strife Grew Into a Crisis The report includes information chronicling the history of violence and discrimination against the Rohingya ethnic community.

The top US diplomat for Southeast Asia says America remains deeply troubled by the ongoing crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and allegations of human rights abuses there.

Numerous Rohingya villages in the north of Rakhine have been torched but authorities in Buddhist-majority Myanmar have denied that security forces or Buddhist civilians set the fires.

A Rohingya refugee child cries after getting wet in the rain in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, September 17, 2017.

“The women who are coming for check-ups all have a terrified and exhausted look”, said Sumaya, a midwife at the Nayapara refugee camp working in association with the United Nations population fund.

The Rohingya have brought with them stories of death and destruction, including multiple accounts of rape and the murder of children.

“This is forcing refugees to take risky and irregular routes to enter Bangladesh, which could have deadly consequences”.

The report expressed particular concern for country’s Rohingya population arguing their “stateless status and inability to receive aid and work legally increases their vulnerability to human trafficking”.

Bangladesh is struggling to cope with the refugees and aid workers fear people could die due to a lack of food, shelter and water, given the numbers.

Those who managed to receive some aid after waiting hours in line were dismayed by the meager hand-out.

Residents of Ah Nauk Pyin, one of the two self-identifying Rohingya villages, said they hoped to move to the relative safety of a camp outside Sittwe, the nearby state capital. “Where else will they go? What will I eat now?” The government said that even those registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees would be deported.

“He just asked how is Bangladesh?” But the military retains a strong hand in government and remains responsible for security.

Telling the court that the presence of Rohingyas in India would be a drain on the resources of the country and would affect the rights of the people, the Centre on Monday pointed out that some of the Rohingyas had contacts with Pakistan-based terror outfits.

It is apparent that the only long term solution to the situation in Rakhine State is socio-economic and infrastructure development of the State.

Yasin reported from Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh.