SRINAGAR, India (AP) – Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir have sent at least 168 Rohingya refugees to a control center, police said Sunday in a process they say is for the deportation of thousands of refugees in the region.
The move began on Saturday following an order from the region’s home affairs department to identify Rohingya living in the southern city of Jammu, Inspector General Mukesh Singh said. He said about 5,000 Rohingya Muslims had taken refuge in Jammu over the past few years.
“Everyone lives here illegally and we started identifying them,” Singh said. “This process is to eventually deport them to their country.”
More than 1 million Rohingya have fled their waves of violent persecution in their native Myanmar and are currently living mainly in overcrowded, bad refugee camps in Bangladesh.
Since Saturday, officials have called hundreds of Rohingya to a stadium in Jammu, taken their personal details and biometrics and tested for the coronavirus. A prison has been converted into a center on the outskirts of the city, and at least 168 Rohingya have been sent there so far, Singh said.
The refugees, who had previously encountered hostility in the city, were not informed of what was going on. Jammu is a Hindu-dominated Kashmir-dominated territory in the Kashmir.
Khatija, a Rohingya Muslim woman who uses one name, said Indian authorities took her son away on Saturday and she did not know where he was being held. Her daughter-in-law gave birth Sunday morning, she said.
An estimated 40,000 Rohingya have taken refuge in parts of India. Less than 15,000 are registered with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Many settled in areas of India with large Muslim populations, including the southern city of Hyderabad, the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, and New Delhi. Some took refuge in northeastern India bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar.
According to the Indian government, there is evidence that there are extremists who pose a threat to the country’s security among the Rohingya and all call them “illegal immigrants” who will be deported.
In 2018 and 2019, Indian authorities deported at least 12 Rohingya in two groups to Myanmar. Law groups have asked the Indian government to abandon the plan to deport Rohingya and evaluate their asylum claims.