NEW DELHI: More than
10,000 Rohingya Muslims belonging to Myanmar are currently living in Jammu and
Kashmir and the central and the state governments are exploring ways on how to
identify and deport them.
The Rohingya Muslims
are mostly living in Jammu and Samba districts and came to the state after
entering India illegally through either Indo-Bangladesh border or Indo-Myanmar
border or travelling through the Bay of Bengal.
The issue of
Rohingya Muslims, who are living illegally, was discussed at a high-level
meeting convened by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and attended by Jammu
and Kashmir Chief Secretary Braj Raj Sharma and Director General of Police S P
Vaid.
"We are
exploring ways on how to identify and deport the Rohingya Muslims," a Home
Ministry official said.
According to the
Jammu and Kashmir government's estimate, Rohingya Muslims are numbered at
around 5,700 but it could go up to 10,000.
There are around
40,000 Rohingya Muslims living in different parts of the country and all of
them have entered illegally.
Even though some of
them registered with a UN refugee body, India does not recognise it.
Some of the Rohingya
Muslims were found to be involved in petty crime but no one was found to be
involved in any major crime nor anyone has been found to be radicalised.
Jammu and Kashmir
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had said in the state assembly on January 20 that
some 'Madrasas' were associated with Rohingya Muslims in the state.
Mehbooba had said no
Rohingya Muslim has been found involved in militancy-related incidents but 17
FIRs have been registered against 38 Rohingyas for various offences including
those related to illegal border crossing.
Some NGOs namely
'Shikawat' run by Mohammad-ul-Umar of Srinagar along with Rashid, SR Institute
of Development of Rambagh (Srinagar) and Delhi-based NGO Daji were helping
Rohingyas in cash and kind from time to time, Mehbooba had said.
Rohingyas originally
belong to Rakhine province of Myanmar and many of them have left the country
due to alleged persecution by the majority Buddhist community.
Source: http://ecoti.in/eQgqpY