India asked to stop deportation of Rohingyas

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), a rights group, on Saturday asked the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to withdraw an advisory on deportation of Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar.

The MHA had said that states have powers to identify and deport Rohingyas who had illegally entered India while noting that infiltration from Rakhine state of Myanmar in the recent years has become a burden on the limited resources of the country.

“Under the principle of non-refoulement, countries are under obligation not to send back refugees to their country of origin should circumstances of grave human rights violations prevail, there,” said CHRI director Sanjoy Hazarika said.

CHRI coordinator (Prison Reforms Programme) Madhurima Dhanuka said, “As Myanmar refuses to acknowledge Rohingya Muslims as citizens, it becomes impossible for the Indian government to deport them there, making the advisory infructuous.”