Don’t demonise or lecture India on move to deport Rohingyas, Kiren Rijiju tells human rights groups
The minister of state for home affairs said the country had been hosting the refugees even though it was not signatory to the UN Human Rights Convention.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Monday asked human rights groups to not “demonise or lecture” India about the Centre’s decision to deport Rohingya Muslim refugees. Calling India the world’s most “humane nation” that was home to millions of refugees, he said it cannot go on indefinitely, PTI reported.
“We are not going to shoot them, nor are we planning to throw them in the ocean,” Rijiju said, adding that no one should accuse India of intolerance. “Don’t demonise us, don’t lecture us. India is not a signatory to the United Nations Human Rights Convention, but still the country has been hosting millions of refugees.”
On August 14, the Centre had said that all the estimated 40,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees living in India, including those registered with the UN High Commission for Refugees, are illegal immigrants and will be deported.
On August 17, the Human Rights Watch had urged New Delhi to “abide by its international legal obligations” and not forcibly deport the Rohingyas to Myanmar, “where they face persecution”. The next day, the National Human Rights Commission had issued a notice to the Ministry of Home Affairs over the decision.
India has a large Rohingya population in Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Delhi.