Supreme Court Allows Deportation of 7 Rohingyas to MyanmarTop Stories

October 04, 2018 15:19
Supreme Court Allows Deportation of 7 Rohingyas to Myanmar

(Image source from: Dawn)

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the first deportation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar since the federal government ordered their identification earlier this year.

The top court rejected a plea by defense lawyer Prashant Bhushan to allow seven Rohingyas live in India as they feared reprisal in Myanmar.

They were arrested earlier in 2012 for entering India illegally and have been imprisoned.

Defense attorney Bhushan said the government should treat them as refugees and not as illegal migrants and send a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to talk to them so that they were not deported under duress.

The Indian government plans to hand over the seven to Myanmar border guards later Thursday. It says it has obtained travel permits for them from Myanmar. On Wednesday, they were taken on a bus from the prison to the border town of Moreh in Manipur state.

"Even the country of their origin has accepted them as its citizens," Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S.K. Kaul and K.M. Joseph said, adding that they would not like to interfere with the government's decision.

Government attorney Tushar Mehta told the judges that the government of Myanmar had given them certificates of identity and 1-month visas to facilitate their deportation.

More or less 700,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh to flight an inhumane campaign of hostility by Myanmar's military. Nearly 40,000 Rohingya have taken refuge in parts of India. Less than 15,000 are registered with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Umpteen have settled in regions with sizable Muslim populations, including the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, the southern city of Hyderabad, and the Himalayan region of Jammu-Kashmir. Some have taken refuge in northeast India bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The Indian government says it has evidence there are extremists who pose a threat to the country's security among the Rohingya Muslims who have settled in many Indian cities. India is fighting insurgencies in northern Kashmir and in northeastern states.

On Wednesday, two UN bodies criticized Indian government over a proposed move to deport seven Rohingya "illegals" on Thursday, urging Indian authorities to refrain from doing anything that would endanger the lives of those in plans to deport.

By Sowmya Sangam

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Supreme Court  Rohingya  Rohingya refugees