According to Rohingya refugees, the form
identified them as ‘Bengali Muslims; which was not true.
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad city police have
constituted two teams, one comprising 30 personnel, to ascertain information
about the Rohingya refugees and the other to keep track of Bangladeshi citizens
residing in the city.
These two teams have been gathering
information about people who have migrated from Bangladesh or Myanmar.
They were trained on the methodology to be
used to extract information from illegal immigrants. The teams distribute a
form with the help of the local police which seeks information including such
as name, father’s name, and residential address, place of work and date of
arrival in India and date of settlement in Hyderabad.
According to Rohingya refugees, the form
identified them as ‘Bengali Muslims; which was not true. They have demanded
that they be distinguished from Bangladeshi citizens and should be recognised
as Burmese or Rohingya Muslims as they were citizens of Myanmar.
When the forms were distributed in Balapur,
they were surprised to see that they had been termed as Bengali Muslims and
staged a demonstration they be identified as Myanmar citizens.
A Rohingya Muslim, Mr Ali said, “We want to
return to Myanmar where we were born if we are repatriated.”
The Rohingya refugees expressed their
gratitude to the state government and MIM president Akbaruddin Owaisi who
allowed them to live here. Another Rohingya said, “After arriving in India we
realized the meaning of independence and liberty. We are not getting any aid
from any international agency; it's the local people who are helping us for
which we are thankful to them. We are ready to provide information about
ourselves; we just want that we should not be branded as Bengali Muslims.”
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