155 sent to ‘holding center' at Hira Nagar Sub-Jail
Jammu Tawi, Mar 6: Many Rohingyas were summoned on Saturday at MAM Stadium, Jammu. Sources told that the process was started on Saturday after the directions from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) since the verifications were not carried for over a year now.
At least 155 illegal immigrant Rohingyas who escaped persecution in Myanmar and were living in Jammu and Kashmir were on Saturday sent to Hira Nagar Sub Jail now ‘holding centre', under section 3(2)e of the Foreigners Act. The immigrants were not holding valid travel documents required under section (3) of the Passports Act, officials told. Pertinently, the Hira Nagar Sub Jail was evacuated last week and all its inmates were transferred.
According to sources, this action is being taken to trace the Rohingyas illegally settled in Jammu city. The Rohingya found illegally settled here will be deported to Myanmar, their home country. Earlier in 2017 and 2018, the police had verified the Rohingyas. The MA stadium was sealed by the police on Saturday morning. The CRPF was also deployed with the police outside the gate.
At nine o'clock in the morning, some Rohingya families were called there who had brought with them their identity cards and displaced person cards issued by the United Nations. Apart from this, many Rohingyas were also brought by police from their hideouts which were released back after investigation.
Earlier, Rohingyas have been accused of being involved in anti-national activities, including the terrorist attack at Sunjwa military camp a few years back.
There is a suspicion that the terrorists involved in that terror attack were helped by Rohingyas and took refuge in Rohingya Basti before the attack. Apart from this, Rohingyas have also been found involved in theft, drug trafficking and other criminal offences.
On the other hand, DSP Head Quarters Swati Sharma says that this is routine action. The Rohingyas will be called in turn to check their documents.
The number of Rohingyas living in Jammu is officially considered to be 14,000, but security agencies believe that their numbers are much higher. Narwal, Maratha Basti, Talab Tilo, Rajiv Nagar, Kasim Nagar, etc. in Jammu are areas where a large number of Rohingyas reside and most of them do not even have valid documents. While many of these Rohingyas living illegally are working with contractors in the railways, many are also engaged in putting fiber etc. with telecom companies. Apart from this, Rohingyas are also doing garbage picking in the city. A number of Rohingyas in the city is also begging, including their children and women. Rohingya women have also been involved in the theft of minibuses in several cases. Apart from Jammu, there are Rohingyas in Samba, Kathua, Rajouri and Poonch where they have no details.
A big conspiracy is also coming behind the settlement of Rohingyas in Jammu. Sources say that most of the Rohingyas settled in Jammu have been ‘brought from' the refugees in and around Malda in West Bengal. The word brought here is being used because it has been brought to Jammu not by the Rohingya itself but by an NGO in Kashmir, whose intention was to spoil the social situation in Jammu and damage the security system. Rohingyas, who are living illegally in Jammu, have also confessed to security agencies several times that they have been brought to Jammu with the promise of better facilities and care, and arrangements were made to bring their food to Jammu. It has also been reported to the security agencies that funding of these Rohingyas in Jammu is also being done from UAE and Pakistan, for which some supporting evidence has also been found.
Notably, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recently in a written reply filed in Parliament said that central government has been vested with powers under relevant sections of the Foreigners Act to detain and deport foreign nationals who are staying illegally in the country.
“Detection and deportation of illegal migrants including Rohingya migrants from Myanmar after due process of nationality verification is a continuous process,” MHA said in a reply.
