Two-member UN team meets Rohingya Muslims in Jammu

Jammu: A two-member team of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) met Rohingya Muslims at a slum here amid a heated debate whether the illegally settled immigrants be provided water and electricity.

Senior Protection Officer Tomoko Fukumura along with Protection Associate Ragini Trakroo Zutushi on Monday met the Rohingya Muslims and some local residents in the Kiryani Talab area of Narwal, an official said on Wednesday.

He said the head of the team would return to Delhi on Wednesday evening as their attempt to meet some police officials failed.

On December 7, Jammu and Kashmir Jal Shakti Minister Javed Ahmed Rana said the water supply would not be snapped to the slums housing the immigrants, pending a call from the Centre on their deportation.

Rana’s statement came after Rohingyas living on three plots of land in the Narwal area of Jammu claimed that their power and water supply were snapped recently despite being registered with the UNHCR.

Two days later, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah 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.

"It is a humanitarian issue. The central government should decide about them (Rohingyas). If they are to be sent back, do that. If you can, send them back. If you cannot send them back, we cannot starve them to death. They cannot be allowed to die of cold," Abdullah had told reporters.

"The Government of India should tell us what we have to do with them. As long as they are here, we need to take care of them," he added.

Abdullah, the National Conference vice president, also asserted that they did not bring the Rohingyas to Jammu.

"They have been brought and settled here. If there is a change in policy at the Centre, take them back. As long as they are here, we cannot treat them like animals. They are humans and they should be treated as such," he said.

The BJP, however, called the settlement of Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals in Jammu a major "political conspiracy" and demanded a CBI probe to identify those involved in bringing and settling them in the city.

Hitting out at the National Conference government over granting water and power connections to the settlers, the BJP alleged it was being done to protect them as they belonged to a "particular community".

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, where their population increased by over 6,000 between 2008 and 2016.

In March 2021, police found more than 270 Rohingyas, including women and children, living illegally in Jammu city during a verification drive and lodged them at a holding centre inside the Kathua sub-jail.

On November 25, Senior Superintendent of Police, city south Jammu, Ajay Sharma said 18 FIRs were registered 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.

“The civil administration has also launched a drive to identify the people who facilitated electricity and water connections to the plots housing Rohingyas,” Sharma had said.

India, not being a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention, views Rohingyas as "illegal immigrants". The convention outlines refugee rights and the legal obligations of countries to protect them.