Two-member UNHCR team meets Rohingya refugees in Jammu

Amid controversy over Rohingya refugees staying in Jammu and surrounding areas, a two-member team of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) visited these immigrants and interacted with them to know the condition in which they were living.

Senior Protection Officer Tomoko Fukumura along with Protection Associate Ragini Trakroo Zutushi on Monday met the Rohingya refugees and some local residents in the Kiryani Talab area of Narwal. The team returned to New Delhi after meeting the refugees.

A controversy was kicked off a few days back when the administration ordered to disconnect water and power connections to the slums and homes where illegal Rohingyas were living. Later, Jal Shakti Minister Javed Ahmed Rana clarified that the power and water supply would not be snapped to the slums housing the immigrants.

It has been learnt that the team visited the areas housing Rohingyas after the recent outcry by local organisations to deport these refugees out of the country. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah recently said the Centre should decide the fate of the Rohingya population settled in Jammu, asserting that they could not be allowed to die of starvation or cold.

As per reports, the government during an investigation identified four Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) that were helping the Rohingyas to settle in Jammu city. Reports suggest that at least 158 Rohingyas were able to get Aadhaar cards in an unauthorised way while many Rohingya women have married local youths, both in Kashmir and Jammu regions.

According to government data, more than 13,700 foreigners, most of them Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals, are settled in Jammu and other districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

18 FIRs were registered recently in a major drive against the landlords renting out their properties to Rohingyas and others without providing information to police as per the order of the district magistrate.

Different political organisations have in recent times urged the Central Government to deport the Bangladeshi and Rohingyas living in Jammu city, who, they claimed, posed a threat to the national security.

UT chief of Shiv Sena (UBT) Manish Sahni said while the government has refused to disconnect the water and power supply of illegal Rohingyas, “authorities were acting against local cart vendors, who earn their living by selling fruits and vegetables”.

“Electricity and water supply to the local people is not adequate but these facilities are being provided to Rohingyas and Bangladeshis, who are illegally camping in the highly sensitive areas of Jammu,” said Sahni.