<div align="justify">Stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea, the Rohingya refugees taking shelter here prefer to stay in India. Sure of persecution by the Myanmar Army the 3500 Rohingyas who are holding the UNHCR (United Nation High Commission for Refugees) want the Indian government to shoot them than sending them back to their country where they were treated like second class citizens.<br /><br />Packed into makeshift tin roofed shelters in camps in Balapore, Hafeez Baba Nagar, Kishan Bagh, Jalpalli and Shakur Nagar in Old City here, the Rohingyas who started arriving here around 2012 eke a living working as construction workers and doing petty businesses. “Most all of them are illiterate, few with religious training. If they are lucky they might get work for a week during a whole month,” Dr Mazhar Hussain, Director of Confederation of Voluntary Associations, (COVA) an NGO working with the Rohingya refugees said. According to Mr.Mazhar, there are around 500 applications pending with the UNHRC, which he hopes will be approved soon, bringing the total number of refugees here to 4000.<br /><br />All the refugees that arrive here are screened by the COVA, by helping the new refugees to fill in the mandatory UNHRC AMRS (Application Mandatory for Refugee status) with the help of Ayatullah a young man from Boothi town, 300 km from Rangoon. He helps the UNHRC officials during the personal interview with the applicants. Ayatullah who arrived here way back in 2011 still has his family there in Myanmar. “Only recently Sofaram, a nearby village to my native place was annihilated by the Myanmar army,” Ayatollah said.<br /><br />“None of the Rohingyas were allowed to join colleges and study. We are not allowed to do businesses; we were hunted down like wild animals. Kill us with an AK 47 than sending us back,” another young man Kareemulla Khan who spends time at a local Mosque near Camp number one of the Balapore area said. Khan crossed into Bangladesh and then into India when he was only 15 years old. His parents joined him at the camp two years ago.<br /><br />Bilal Hussain of Shaknwa village came here in 2012. “Insha Allah we hope that India lets us live here. Hindus and Muslims are like brothers here, there is no discrimination,” Bilal Says. A mother of five children Parveen Akhtar is working in a nearby tailoring shop. “I have shifted two camps so far. My children are going to a small Urdu school here. They speak good Urdu,” she says. Like Bilal, she sees a future for her children here in India.<br /><br /></div>
<div align="justify">Stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea, the Rohingya refugees taking shelter here prefer to stay in India. Sure of persecution by the Myanmar Army the 3500 Rohingyas who are holding the UNHCR (United Nation High Commission for Refugees) want the Indian government to shoot them than sending them back to their country where they were treated like second class citizens.<br /><br />Packed into makeshift tin roofed shelters in camps in Balapore, Hafeez Baba Nagar, Kishan Bagh, Jalpalli and Shakur Nagar in Old City here, the Rohingyas who started arriving here around 2012 eke a living working as construction workers and doing petty businesses. “Most all of them are illiterate, few with religious training. If they are lucky they might get work for a week during a whole month,” Dr Mazhar Hussain, Director of Confederation of Voluntary Associations, (COVA) an NGO working with the Rohingya refugees said. According to Mr.Mazhar, there are around 500 applications pending with the UNHRC, which he hopes will be approved soon, bringing the total number of refugees here to 4000.<br /><br />All the refugees that arrive here are screened by the COVA, by helping the new refugees to fill in the mandatory UNHRC AMRS (Application Mandatory for Refugee status) with the help of Ayatullah a young man from Boothi town, 300 km from Rangoon. He helps the UNHRC officials during the personal interview with the applicants. Ayatullah who arrived here way back in 2011 still has his family there in Myanmar. “Only recently Sofaram, a nearby village to my native place was annihilated by the Myanmar army,” Ayatollah said.<br /><br />“None of the Rohingyas were allowed to join colleges and study. We are not allowed to do businesses; we were hunted down like wild animals. Kill us with an AK 47 than sending us back,” another young man Kareemulla Khan who spends time at a local Mosque near Camp number one of the Balapore area said. Khan crossed into Bangladesh and then into India when he was only 15 years old. His parents joined him at the camp two years ago.<br /><br />Bilal Hussain of Shaknwa village came here in 2012. “Insha Allah we hope that India lets us live here. Hindus and Muslims are like brothers here, there is no discrimination,” Bilal Says. A mother of five children Parveen Akhtar is working in a nearby tailoring shop. “I have shifted two camps so far. My children are going to a small Urdu school here. They speak good Urdu,” she says. Like Bilal, she sees a future for her children here in India.<br /><br /></div>