Supreme Court receives fresh petition to identify, deport over 40,000 Rohingya refugees

New Delhi:  A fresh petition has been filed in the Supreme Court favouring the Centre’s stand to identify and deport to Myanmar around 40,000 illegal Rohingya Muslims staying in New Delhi . The plea may be heard along with the PIL filed by two Rohingya Muslim refugees challenging deportation, which is likely to come up for hearing on 3 October. Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, also a BJP leader, said that his plea has been accepted in the apex court registry and would be heard on the date already fixed. The plea has sought a direction to the centre and the state governments to identify, detain and deport all illegal migrants and infiltrators, including Bangladesh nationals and Rohingyas. [caption id=“attachment_4001069” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] “The large-scale illegal migrants, particularly from Myanmar and Bangladesh, have not only threatened the demographic structure of bordering districts but have seriously impaired the security and national integration, particularly in the present circumstances,” the plea said. The plea alleged there was an organised influx of illegal immigrants from Myanmar through agents and touts facilitating illegal immigrants Rohingyas via Benapole to Haridaspur and Hilli (West Bengal), Sonamora (Tripura), Kolkata and Guwahati. “This situation is seriously harming the national security of the country,” it said. Meanwhile, Rohingya immigrants, Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir who had filed the PIL, claimed they had taken refuge in India after escaping from Myanmar due to widespread discrimination, violence and bloodshed against the community there. They have recently filed their rejoinder affidavit responding to Centre’s affidavit that some of the refugees have links with Pakistan’s ISI and terror organisation ISIS and they may pose serious threat to national security. “The government cannot make a blanket claim that all Rohingya refugees have terror links and there being a fear of them being radicalised by terror recruits operating in India. “This ground is unsustainable against a whole class of largely destitute Rohingyas who have fled their country over the last few years fearing for their lives, as military operations against the Rohingyas in Myanmar have escalated by the day and there has been a mass exodus of about 4,00,000 Rohingyas from Rakhine province in Myanmar which is the epicentre of the ethnic conflict,” the two Rohingyas said. Opposing the Centre’s reply, they said there was no specific allegations against individual members of Rohingya community in India and it needs to be dealt with on a case to case basis. Moreover, there was not a single FIR registered against Rohingyas in any matter that would jeopardise national security, they said. “If there is some credible evidence or information that any members of the Rohingya community/refugees are involved in any activity that would harm national security interests of India, those individuals may either be dealt with in accordance with Indian law or they can be refused refugee status under the exclusion clause of the 1951 Refugee Convention,” the rejoinder affidavit said. Former RSS ideologue and Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan leader KN Govindacharaya had also moved the Supreme Court seeking to intervene in the pending PIL on Rohingyas. He has opposed the plea of two Rohingya refugees saying they are a burden on country’s resources and pose a serious threat to national security.