Rohingyas clash with police & break the gate of jail in J&K, demanding their freedom or repatriation to Myanmar
19 Jul 2023 11:26:36
Incarcerated Rohingyas refugees reportedly clashed with police inside a jail-turned-holding centre in Jammu on Tuesday, demanding their freedom or repatriation to Myanmar.
"Several refugees and policemen have been injured. The CRPF was brought in to restore order," a police officer said.
According to the police officer, the trouble started on Tuesday morning after the detainees allegedly tried to break open the gate of Hira Nagar sub-jail, which is the lone holding centre for the refugees in Jammu and Kashmir, but were stopped by the police.
“An FIR has been registered and investigations are on,” he said.
Thousands of Rohingya refugees have been living in Jammu for the past two years to avoid persecution by authorities in their homeland in Myanmar. Many people in Jammu have been calling for their ouster.
The Rohingya Human Rights Initiative, a group that fights for the refugees’ rights, claimed the police used tear gas on the detainees who were on a hunger strike. They did not suggest there was any clash.
A total of 271 Rohingyas, including 74 women and 70 children, are lodged at the sub-jail that was notified as a "holding centre" on March 5, 2021, for lodging illegal immigrants.
The backstory
Rohingyas went on an indefinite hunger strike against their lodgment at the centre in May but called off their protest after they were persuaded by senior police and jail officials that the matter has been taken up with the Centre, and whenever the orders are received, they will be released or deported to their country of origin.
Most of the detained foreigners were found living illegally in Jammu during a special verification drive.
The Rohingyas are a Bengali-dialect-speaking Muslim minority in Myanmar.
Following persecution in their country, many of them entered India illegally through Bangladesh and took shelter in Jammu and other parts of the country.
Many political parties and social organisations in Jammu have been urging the Centre for the deportation of Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals, alleging that their presence is a "conspiracy to alter the demographic character" in the region and a "threat to peace".
More than 13,700 foreigners, including Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshi nationals, are settled in Jammu and Samba districts of Jammu and Kashmir, where their population has increased by over 6,000 between 2008 and 2016, according to government data.