As per reports, 1300 Rohingyas have crossed into Bangladesh from India since the start of the year. “Some 1,300 individuals from 300 families have arrived from India to Bangladesh until today,” said Nayana Bose, a spokesperson for the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG).
The ISCG includes UN agencies and various other organizations that claim to address humanitarian concerns. UNHCR spokesperson Firas Al-Khateeb said the UN refugee agency was “aware of the situation”.
As per reports, the exodus was sparked by fears of deportation to Myanmar. The NDA government in India has maintained that Rohingyas are a security threat to the nation and must be deported from where they came. 230 Rohingyas were arrested in 2018 by Indian authorities.
In October last year, Seven Rohingya Muslims who were lodged in jail since 2012 for illegally entering India were sent to Myanmar border for deportation. The government has also decided to deport 23 more Rohingyas, who have been staying at various detention camps in Assam after they were caught staying illegally in the state.
The Indian government strongly maintains that Rohingyas pose a huge national security risk to the country. Human Rights groups with questionable integrity had criticised the move without acknowledging the complexity of national security risks that could be brought by allowing Rohingyas to stay in the country.
According to estimates, there are about 40,000 Rohingyas living illegally in Hyderabad, Jammu, Kanpur and outskirts of Delhi and are indulging in criminal activities, drug trafficking, executing terror activities teaming up with ISI sleeper cells. Shockingly, the names of nearly 190 Rohingya illegal immigrants residing in Telangana had appeared in the state voters’ lists.
The UNHCR’s stance has also been hypocritical on the matter. While it turns a blind eye to the fact that Saudi Arabia has been deporting Rohingyas as well, it expresses ‘disappointment’ and seeks clarification when India does exactly the same.