Jammu Rohingyas Living In Constant Fear Of Deportation

At the makeshift shanties in Jammu’s Narwal area, the Rohingya refugees live in fear and desperation especially in the last few years as the government has intensified its crackdown on them. A number of them are facing second displacement after they fled to Bangladesh, and many are planning to follow in their route.

Muhammad, who did not want to be identified by his second name, fled Rakhine in 2009 when he was too young to understand what was happening. His parents took turns in carrying him as they fled from the forests and rough terrain by foot. “Our lives were under threat in Rakhine and fled to India for survival as we thought it is a better country. I was hardly three when we arrived in Jammu and spent my childhood here. But now we are under threat again. People are getting detained and families are being separated. We are scared. We don’t want to be cut off, and are planning to flee to Bangladesh,” he says.

Now 16, Muhammad says his father died in 2013 and he fears getting separated from his mother or any one of them getting detained in India. “We have been living terrible lives for the last two three years. We are not criminals. We should not be detained and deported. We live in fear and misery. Most families have already left,” says Muhammad, who dreams of getting access to good education and improving his mother’s quality of life. “Had we been animals, we would have no fear. But as humans, we tend to think. We don’t fear detentions, but the idea of being separated from our families. We have not done any future planning, but definitely want to leave India,” he adds.

Life was good in Rakhine, says Muhammad. The family had a house, some agricultural land, and cattle. “My mother has told me stories of our home, where we had all the comforts. But now I only wish to live in safety and sleep in peace.” Even if refugees successfully flee from India, Muhammad says chances are high that they will get detained before crossing into Bangladesh. “Recently I heard many were detained. For us, there is no safety anywhere.”

In May this year, political party IkkJutt Jammu organised a signature campaign against 'the illegal settlements of Bangladeshis, Rohingya Muslims, and land grabbers/Land Jihad in Jammu'. The party says it is concerned about “this serious threat to the people of Jammu being surrounded by anti-national and anti-social elements supported by the successive state government". The party says despite the Supreme Court order on April 8, 2021, to deport them from Indian territory to their native country the government has not done anything. Leaders of the Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party have in the past taken to the streets wearing black banners that read: Bangladeshi and Rohingya Immigrants ‘Quit Jammu'. They say the presence of Rohingyas is in conspiracy to reduce the Dogra population to a minority in their bastion Jammu by engineering demographic change. 

Many members in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have sought deportation of Rohingyas for long. Senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Prof. Nirmal Singh told Outlook that the BJP has been seeking deportation of Rohingyas as they are a security risk and a national threat. “When I was deputy chief minister, I held several meetings in this regard. We even formed a committee to look into the issue of how they should be deported,” says Singh. During the alliance between Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party and the BJP government, CID reports emerged that Rohingyas were involved in anti-national activities. “Basically, they are foreigners and have to leave this place. Besides, Jammu and Samba are border districts, and Jammu is a border area. The presence of Rohingyas is a constant risk to Jammu. Pakistan and other terrorists might be trying to recruit them as they are vulnerable. Looking at their background they can prove security risk at any time,” he says. Previous security reports, he says, have described them as a security risk. 

In March last year, the Jammu and Kashmir government started an exercise to deport Rohingyas settled in Jammu. Around 155 Myanmar nationals were sent to Hiranagar Jail, colloquially referred to as ‘holding centre’. At that time, the police said Section 3(2) e of the Foreigners Act had been invoked. The police insist that the immigrants did not have valid travel documents as specified in Section (3) of the Passports Act. The police say the exercise of identifying more such immigrants is still in progress and after completion of their nationality verification; the process of deportation of the immigrants will be initiated. The government had ordered all inmates lodged in Hiranagar Jail of Kathua district to be shifted to other jails of Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, Syeda, a 55-year-old Rohingya refugee, says she is terrified of getting detained. “We are struggling to find work as people do not want to be associated with us. We are humans who fled prosecution, not criminals. Today, we are even scared of going outside,” says Syeda, who fled to Jammu in 2009. “The initial years were good, but now things have completely changed.”