Stay off Rohingya Muslim matter, Centre tells Supreme Court

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had asked the Centre to clarify its position on the matter.

The Centre inits affidavit says presence of Rohingya Muslims in India is a drain on India's resources and a serious security threat to country. It further said that it is completely within the executive policy how to deal with illegal immigrants such as Rohingya Muslims. The affidavit was filed in response to a petition against the deportation of Rohingya Muslims from India.

Further the centre said that it has inputs from intelligence agencies about links of some Rohingya Muslims with Pakistan's ISI and Global terror networks such as the Islamic State. Further it was stated that is an organised network of touts operating in Myanmar and West Bengal and Tripura to facilitate illegal Rohingya influx. The influx started in 2012 and there are around 40,000 Rohingya Muslims in India.

In a 15 page affidavit, the Centre said that the SC should keep off the executive policy in dealing with illegal Rohingya migrants. Further the reply stated that there are intelligence inputs stating that some illegal migrants have links with Pakistan based terror groups and are trying to spread violence in India. Militant elements among Rohingyas are active in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mewar and Jammu and are posing serious threat to national security.

The Centre said it will place intelligence inputs in sealed cover before SC on Oct 3 to prove its claim on Rohingyas being a security threat.

The matter will next be heard on October 3. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had asked the Centre to clarify its position on the matter. The case came to the court following a government move to deport Rohingya.

All 7,000 Rohingya have nothing to do with terrorism, the petition also said.

The petition, filed through Mohammad Yunus, a Rohingya, described the life of the average Rohingya in Jammu. It said there had not been a single allegation of terrorism against any Rohingya ever since the community began living in Jammu. "Not a single one of them has ever engaged in any terrorist activity," the petition said.

"The local police have for over a year conducted interrogation of all the Rohingya and have taken full details of each family. The local police have inspected the settlements several times every month. All the Rohingya cooperate with the police and give them all the required information," the petition also added.

Saying that branding Rohingya as terrorists was both unfair and discriminatory, it asked the court to direct the government to treat the community with some dignity, not to displace the community, which had undergone years of persecution in their own native land of Myanmar.

"The approximately 7,000 Rohingya reside peacefully on privately owned lands rented out by Indian nationals, most of whom are Hindus. The Rohingya are paying rent to these landlords on a timely basis. None of the landlords have ever voiced any complaints or objections about the conduct of their Rohingya tenants," the petition further stated.

On Wednesday, India agreed to send humanitarian aid to the Rohingya Muslims who were displaced in Myanmar and took refuge in Bangladesh. The decision came in the wake of high-level talks during which India was appraised of the mammoth humanitarian crisis.

OneIndia News