Indian minister calls Rohingya ‘illegal immigrants’

Indian home minister Thursday called Rohingya Muslims settled in the country as "illegal immigrants".

"They have entered India from Myanmar. We need to understand this reality that Rohingya are not refugees," Rajnath Singh said during an event held in the Indian capital New Delhi.

Singh said that no one from Rohingya community applied for asylum in India, adding that the country would not violate any international law by deporting them.

"The issue of national security is involved with regard to illegal immigration which our country can't undermine," he said.

A junior minister in the Indian home ministry earlier this month had said government is looking for ways to deport the Rohingya Muslims living in the country.

An affidavit submitted on September 18 to the Supreme Court provided a detailed response by the government, justifying its plan to deport the refugees.

The government said presence of Rohingya has serious national security ramifications.

2015 NOTIFICATION
"It is observed by the Central Government that some Rohingya are indulging in illegal / anti-national activities…," read the affidavit.

The Indian government is facing criticism for its plan to deport the refugees, with the activists demanding the withdrawal of the government's plan.
"The government had issued a notification in 2015, allowing all the persecuted minorities from the neighboring countries to come to India and settle here without any citizenship and any documentation,", Tasleem Rahmani, president of the Muslim Political Council, told Anadolu Agency.

"If today they are saying that Rohingya Muslims cannot be settled in India, it is clearly a religious criterion that they have adopted," he added.

Zafar UL Islam Khan, a New Delhi-based journalist and senior Muslim leader, also condemned the government's plan calling issue "humanitarian".

"This [deportation plan] is not a good decision. This is a humanitarian issue and several countries are accepting the refugees while speaking against the atrocities," Khan told Anadolu Agency.

Since Aug. 25, more than 421,000 Rohingya have crossed from Myanmar's western state of Rakhine into Bangladesh, according to the UN.

PLIGHT OF ROHINGYA
The refugees are fleeing a fresh security operation in which security forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women and children, looted homes and torched Rohingya villages. According to Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali, around 3,000 Rohingya have been killed in the crackdown.

Turkey has been at the forefront of providing aid to Rohingya refugees and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the issue during his speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

Last October, following attacks on border posts in Rakhine's Maungdaw district, security forces launched a five-month crackdown in which, according to Rohingya groups, around 400 people were killed.

The UN documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

Security analysts in India, however, say that the decision to deport refugees is to secure India's interest.

"The humanitarian angle notwithstanding, India's stand on Rohingya refugees is to be seen from the point of view of the current global perception on migration, which is perceived as a security threat," Samir Patil, Director of Centre for International Security at Gateway House, a Mumbai-based foreign policy think tank told Anadolu Agency.

"There are some genuine concerns on linkages of Rohingya extremists with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia [...] Therefore, Indian policy makers are doing best to secure India's interests," he added.