UN blasts India on Rohingiya repatriation

UN Rohingiya

Regretting repatriation of five Myanmarese Rohingya from Assam, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNCHR) on Saturday said India did not reply to its requests for access to such detainees.

"Despite repeated requests, the UNHCR did not receive a response from the authorities in India regarding requests for access to individuals in detention to ascertain their circumstances and to assess the voluntariness of their decision to return. This is the second such incident since October 2018, when India returned seven Rohingya to Rakhine state in Myanmar, where conditions are not conducive for return," the UN body said in a statement.

Five Rohingya, who were caught in 2014 for illegally entering Assam, were repatriated through India-Myanmar border at Moreh in Manipur on Thursday. They were lodged in a detention centre inside Tezpur jail in North Assam, from where they were taken to Moreh and handed over to Myanmarese officials. Assam police officials claimed they wished to go back to their homes after the expiry of their jail terms.

The UNHCR had also criticised repatriation of seven Rohingiyas from Assam in October last year saying the situation in Myanmar was not conducive for the return of the refugees. The seven were similarly deported from Assam while the Supreme Court refused to interfere into a petition to stop their deportation. They were lodged in Silchar jail in South Assam.