J&K ex-CM questions Centre's claim of Rohingya Muslims being 'security threat'

Srinagar: Former chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Monday that the Centre’s claim that the Rohingya Muslims are a security threat is a post-2014 development as far as their presence in J&K is concerned.

“This threat, at least in J&K, is a post-2014 development. No such intelligence reports ever came up for discussion in Unified HQ meetings,” he tweeted soon after the government told the Supreme Court that Rohingya Muslims are “illegal” immigrants in the country and their continuous stay posed “serious national security threat”.

However, minister of state in the PMO, Jiten-dra Singh, ridiculed Mr Abdullah, who is the working president of Oppositional National Conference and was the J&K CM between 2008 and 2014, terming his tweet as a “stray tweet”.

He said, “We have every reason to trust the home ministry rather than pay attention to some stray tweets.”

The Centre’s affidavit, filed in the apex court, said the fundamental right to reside and settle in any part of the country is available to citizens only and illegal refugees can’t invoke the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to enforce the right.

The Centre also said the plan to deport the Rohingya refugees was a policy decision and the court should desist from interfering in the matter. It said some Rohingya refugees have links with the global terror outfit, Islamic State, and allowing them to stay in India would pose a security threat to the country.

The affidavit also said: “Some Rohingyas with militant background were active in Jammu, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mewat, and are a potential threat to the internal security.”

Thousands of Rohingya refugees, who have fled violence in Myanmar, are living in Jammu and Kashmir, mainly in jhuggies (shacks) on the outskirts of winter capital Jammu from many years.

Many of them have or are leaving following “threats” from local groups and activists. Several hundred of them recently relocated to Telegana and some other states down south.

Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) president Rakesh Gupta in August told a press conference in the winter capital that if the government fails to deport all Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar and Bangladeshi nationals from Jammu in a month and book those people on whose land these foreigners have settled under the state’s stringent Public Safety Act (PSA), it would launch an “identify and kill” campaign against them.

He said there was no wrong in taking such action against these people, as they were involved in drug trafficking and other criminal and anti-social activities.

The open threat evoked sharp criticism in Muslim majority Kashmir Valley and some political and religious groups of Jammu were equally critical of Mr Gupta. But he, defending himself, said it wouldn’t be an offense to deal sternly with “such criminals and drug traffickers” as they have illegally come to Jammu. “It is high time that the people at large should also shoulder and share responsibility of the security forces and deal with these people as the situation demands,” he had said.

He had also said that the JCCI is aware of the fact that Jammu’s district administration has initiated the process to identify the settlers and the Union home ministry too has asked for details from the state government on the issue “but we feel that is not enough to deal with the looming threat and we will not take it lying down till they are deported.”

As per J&K government sources, there were until recently as many as 6,684 registered Rohinya Muslims and a few thousands Bangladeshi nationals often referred to as ‘Bihari Muslims’ in Jammu region. A Jammu lawyer Hunar Gupta who is a member of the BJP’s legal cell and standing council for the Central government had recently filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the J&K High Court seeking identification and deportation of Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims from Jammu. While senior advocate Sunil Sethi who is also chief spokesman of the BJP in J&K has been appearing in the PIL along with Mr. Gupta, two other lawyers Shah Faisal and Fidel Sebastian had moved an application before the court, pleading that they be heard before an order is passed in the PIL which also seeks directions to the government for shifting all “illegal” immigrants of Myanmar and Bangladesh to any other state as no refugee camp has ever been declared either by the state of the UN in Jammu and Kashmir.  End it

The Centre Monday told the Supreme Court that the Rohingya Muslims are “illegal” immigrants in the country and their countinous stay posed “serious national security threat”. The Centre’s affidavit, filed in the apex court said the fundamental right to reside and settle in any part of the country is available to citizens only and illegal refugees cannot invoke the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to enforce the right. The Centre also said the plan to deport Rohingya refugees was a policy decision and the court should desist from interfering in the matter. It said that some Rohingya refugees have links with the global terror outfit Islamic State and allowing them to stay in India would pose a security threat to the country. The Centre said, “Some Rohingyas with militant background were active in Jammu, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mewat and are a potential threat to internal security.” The Rohingya have denied any link with Islamic extremist groups. The BJP-led government’s argument was in response to a petition filed by two Rohingya refugees challenging the Centre’s decision to deport an estimated 40,000 people of the community living in India. Taking note of the Centre’s reply, the court has adjourned the hearing in the matter to October 3. Centre added that it will place all intelligence inputs in a sealed envelope before SC on October 3 to prove its claim that Rohingyas are a security threat. Rights groups have urged India to abide by its international obligations after the government said last month it had asked state authorities to identify and deport the Rohingya living in their terriory. Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, representing the Rohingya at the Supreme Court hearing, said the Indian constitution “provides equal rights and liberty to every person” including non-citizens.