Over 1,000 Rohingyas flee India fearing crackdown

The Rohingya refugee camp in Cox`s Bazar district is among the largest in the world -- Courtesy: Al Jazeera
The Rohingya refugee camp in Cox`s Bazar district is among the largest in the world -- Courtesy: Al Jazeera

Activists ask India to protect Rohingya as Hindu nationalists call for them to be deported en masse, writes Al Jazeera.

At least 1,300 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh from India since the start of the year, the network reported quoting an official as saying on Wednesday.

Fears of deportation to Myanmar are said to have spark an exodus.

New Delhi has faced sharp criticism for turning Rohingya people over to Myanmar in the past months, despite the members of the persecuted minority facing threats to their safety there, with the United Nations and rights groups accusing India of disregarding international law, observed Al Jazeera.

India, which is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, reportedly arrested 230 Rohingya in 2018 - the highest number in years - as Al Jazeera said, Hindu nationalists called for the displaced Rohingya to be deported en masse.

"For the past year, the government of India has been making life difficult for the Rohingya refugees in India", Ravi Nair, of the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC), told Al Jazeera.

Nair was quoted to have said that the Rohingya in India are subjected to "regular visits by local intelligence officials, this includes harassment about their paperwork. A large number of Rohingya, our own data shows over 200, from Jammu to Tripura, Assam and West Bengal states have been arrested and imprisoned".

The round-ups in India and fear of deportation to Myanmar have driven even more of the stateless Rohingyas into Bangladesh, where a million already live in sprawling refugee camps in the country's southeast, Al Jazeera mentioned.

Increase in new arrivals

Nayana Bose, a spokeswoman for the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), which includes UN agencies and other foreign humanitarian organisations, was quoted to have said the pace of new arrivals to Bangladesh had increased since 3 January.

"Some 1,300 individuals from 300 families have arrived from India to Bangladesh until today," she told the AFP news agency.

UNHCR spokesman Firas Al-Khateeb reportedly said the UN refugee agency was "aware of the situation".

Those crossing the border in recent weeks have been allegedly intercepted by police and sent to Cox's Bazar, a southern district home to the world's largest refugee camps.

Some 40,000 Rohingya are believed to have taken shelter in India over the years.

Humanitarian law

Rohingyas for decades have faced persecution in Myanmar, which refuses to recognise them as citizens and falsely labels them "Bengali" illegal immigrants, said Ak Jazeera.

The Rohingya Muslims, it pointed out, were concentrated in Rakhine state, the epicentre of a brutal Myanmar army offensive in August 2017 that UN investigators described as genocidal in intent.

At least 720,000 Rohingya fled the bloody crackdown in 2017 and entered Bangladesh to join some 300,000 already living in camps there, the report mentioned.

Amnesty International, among other rights groups, has blasted India for forcibly repatriating the Rohingya to Myanmar when persecution in Rakhine is ongoing.

The Oxford Human Rights Hub has reportedly said India and its Supreme Court were in "breach of several international human rights obligations" when it decided to deport the Rohingya asylum seekers in October 2018. "Amidst the rising tide of Hindu nationalism, this decision raises cause for concern."

According to Al Jazeera, Nair of the SAHRDC said India must honour the "right to protection" and "non-refoulement", the practice of not forcing refugees or asylum seekers to return to a country in which they are liable to be subjected to persecution, both aspects of international humanitarian law.

He was quoted to have added: "The Bangladesh foreign minister is expected here next week, and we hope he will take this up strongly with India."