A report in Dhaka Tribune, a Bangaldeshi newspaper claims that India has deported at least 18 Rohingya Muslims, who were living in West Bengal for the past 3 years, to Bangladesh through the Satkhira border.
The local Union Parishad member, Md Nazrul Islam told Dhaka Tribune that the refugees turned up in Kalaroa Chandanpur on Friday (13 October) morning. He said these refugees entered his home, which is 100 yards from the border, at 7 AM.
These Rohingya Muslims told Islam that people from the Ganarajpur Border Security Force camp in Basirhaat, North 24 Parganas had ‘forced them’ to cross over to Bangladesh.
The report in the Dhaka Tribune also claimed that in the last 3 weeks, 57 Rohingya Muslims have been deported by the BSF through various points of Satkhira border. Although another report claims that a similar alleged attempt by the BSF to push around 50 Rohingya Muslims into Bangaladesh was foiled on Saturday.
Chandanpur Union Parishad chairman, Monirul Islam confirmed the Friday incident but could not comment on what would be done with those deported, claimed the newspaper report.
This report of deportation comes after the Supreme Court, on Friday, had deferred the deportation of illegal Rohingya immigrants until the next hearing which is to be held on November 21st.
While Dhaka Tribune claims that Supreme Court of India ‘stayed’ deportation of Rohingyas, while it is to be noted that the Supreme Court merely deferred the hearing.
While talking to ANI, Supreme Court lawyer Aishwarya Bhati said “CJI observed – On one hand, there is humanitarian ground and at the same time national security interest. The bench observed that the court will also have to consider how far courts can interfere in issues like this. The bench was clearly of view that this matter requires a detailed hearing because the magnitude of the issue is much wider.”
She then added, “Initially court felt they would like to pass an interim relief order but ASG stood up and contested.”
A massive debate has been raging in India revolving around whether or not these illegal migrants should be deported or not. While intelligence agencies claim that some of these illegals may have terror links and are a national security threat.
(this report was updated to clarify that the ‘SC stay on Rohingya deportation’ was a wrong assumption by the Bangladeshi newspaper)
