GUWAHATI (Reuters) - Indian police bussed seven Rohingya
Muslims to the border on Wednesday to be deported to neighboring Myanmar for
illegal entry, officials and activists said, the first such move against the
community.
An estimated 40,000 Rohingya, a largely stateless Muslim
minority, live in India after having fled violence and persecution in
Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s Rakhine state over the years. The seven men being
sent back had been held in prison since 2012 for illegal entry.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist
government has described illegal Rohingya immigrants as posing a national
security threat, and ordered state governments last year to identify and deport
them. https://reut.rs/2xKYew9
Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, additional director general of
police in the northeastern state of Assam, said that the seven men would be
handed over to Myanmar authorities on Thursday.
“This is a routine procedure, we deport all illegal
foreigners,” Mahanta said.
But a U.N. human rights official said the forcible return
of the Rohingya was a violation of international law.
“The Indian government has an international legal
obligation to fully acknowledge the institutionalized discrimination, persecution,
hate and gross human rights violations these people have faced in their country
of origin and provide them the necessary protection,” the UN’s Special
Rapporteur on racism, Tendayi Achiume, said in a statement.
An official at the UN refugee agency said conditions in
Rakhine were not conducive for the safe, dignified and sustainable return of
the Rohingya.
More than 700,000 Rohingya, according to U.N. agencies,
have escaped Rakhine to neighboring Bangladesh over the past year, bringing
accounts of mass killings, arson, and rapes by the Myanmar army.
U.N. officials described the Myanmar military’s action as
ethnic cleansing. Myanmar has denied the charges, saying its military launched
a counter-insurgency operation after attacks on security forces by Rohingya
militants in August last year.
Many continue to flee, saying conditions in Rakhine are
no better than last year.
India’s move comes as its top court hears a case filed
against the government order calling for the deportation of the Rohingya.
Cheryl D’souza, a lawyer for the petitioners, said it was
important that such deportations “aren’t allowed to happen under the cover of
darkness”.
“Many more Rohingya may share this fate.”
Nearly 200 Rohingya are known to be detained in India on
charges of illegal entry, according to the UN.
Myanmar’s government spokesman, Zaw Htay, did not answer
telephone calls on Wednesday from Reuters seeking comment on the handover of
the men. Last month, he said he would no longer speak to the media over the
phone but only at a biweekly conference.
The Supreme Court in New Delhi has agreed to hear the
matter of the seven Rohingya on Thursday, D’souza said.