Government’s attitude towards them is not encouraging
Just a week before the World Refugee Day, the world witnessed one more persecution incident of Rohingya refugees living in India’s national capital. On June 13, hundreds of Rohingyas living in shanties were rendered homeless after a massive “mysterious” fire gutted 56 shanties in New Delhi’s Madanpur Khadar area, aggravating intense sorrow of what UN calls the ‘most persecuted minority in the world’.
Delhi Police, as of now, has ruled out any foul play even as they filed a case and began an inquiry into the fire incident.
“Forensic officials have collected the material for evidence,” the investigating officer at Kalindi Kunj police station, under whose jurisdiction the area comes, said. The police confirmed around 56 jhuggis of Rohingyas having a total population of around 270 people were burnt to ashes. The cause of the fire is not known yet. The officers of UNO, Policemen and Magistrate visited the spot, supervising removal of the debris.
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) delegation, led by Mr. Malik Motasim Khan and Mr. Shafi Madani, along with scores of its volunteers, visited the devastated camps, demanded the government to reconstruct the camp.
Speaking with Radiance, JIH community affairs secretary, Mr. Motasim Khan said, “The Rohingya refugees living in the temporary shelters and shanties already face extreme hardship. Now they have no clothes to wear and are forced to live under the open sky in hot sun and rainy night.”
In view of this, the JIH arranged breakfast for the victims besides arranging for them clothes, burqas and chadors for women. Mr. Khan said that the refugees living in the camp had valid refugee cards, issued by the government of India. Therefore, he demanded the government to arrange safe and secure homes for them.
The Rohingyas reportedly told the delegation that they were repeatedly threatened by the administration or officials to vacate the land. But they are all forced to stay there because they have no alternative place to shift.
When pointedly asked whether Jamaat see any foul play behind the fire incident, Mr Khan said, “We can’t say anything about the incident; it’s due to human error, or a planned act to achieve some hidden objectives.
However, we can’t rule out any foul play behind this incident, he added. He also said that National Commission for Human Rights (NHRC) should also play its part as it is purely a humanitarian issue.
It is unfortunate that the present regime in India does not treat these most persecuted refugees of the world at par with other refugees while it has opened arms for the “persecuted” non-Muslim people from the neighbouring countries. The present government has even passed a law for this purpose which came under sharp criticism from all quarters who said the amendment in the Citizenship law brazenly violates India’s secular Constitution. Recently the government also issued a notification inviting non-Muslim refugees to apply for Indian citizenship.
Former chairperson of Delhi’s Minorities Commission, Dr Zafarul Islam Khan slammed the government’s discriminatory policy towards refugees of a particular religious denomination. Dr Khan, who also visited the devastated camp, urged the need for an inquiry. When asked about possible foul play, he said he had no such information in this regard, but added that the Indian government metes out differential treatment to the Rohingyas. He said, “Refugees are usually tolerated in India except if they are Muslims. Hence you will find that Muslim refugees from Pakistan and Burma are treated differently from non-Muslim refugees from the same countries. Nepalese have free run in India. There is a systematic bias in our policies.”
He further added, “India is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. There are many refugees in India from neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Burma, Pakistan and Thailand.”
It is to be noted that mostly community organisations and leaders visited the Rohingya camp. This shows that even humanitarian issues are also being looked through religious prism. Nobody came from the Delhi government and NHRC or from the central government.
While this government is looking the other way on persecuted Rohingyas issue, non-Rohingya refugee influx from Myanmar in Mizoram and other Indian states bordering Myanmar, is there for you to see.
Speaking to Radiance, Rohingya refugees of the camp said their immediate concern is identity cards which they lost in the fire. They fear that authorities and police may hound them as the Indian government wants to deport them back to Myanmar.
“The fire triggered an immediate crisis as refugee families lost everything including their food stuff and cards issued by UNHCR.”
This is the second time that the camp was completely burnt to ashes. In 2018, the fire left the refugees homeless and it was the efforts of local groups and the community that the camp was restored.
The refugees alleged that on the day of fire a few uniformed police personnel had warned them to vacate the land. By the time they could catch a breath, everything was burnt. Though none of the inhabitants lost their lives, some of them sustained injuries.
Meanwhile, a delegation of Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) also visited the camp. The devastated refugees from Myanmar told the delegation that they have regularly been threatened to vacate the land by uniformed and plain-clothed police officials. They are harassed by the authorities demanding refugee documents, and face threats on a regular basis.
“Rohingya refugees are left without any food, clothes and money. Children and women, stationed under plastic roof near the charred ground, look shell-shocked, distraught and in pain. Except for a few sheets, there is hardly anything to spread on the ground. Few volunteers are feeding and providing clothing. The entire imagery makes one’s senses numb,” said the delegation.
“We immediately request the state and the Central governments to take this issue up seriously, as life of every human being is sacrosanct. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) should also take notice and further expand the scope of rehabilitation,” says SIO in a statement.
“In the 21st century enlightened society and a great nation of India, if we can’t let humans barely live on a piece of land, we need a deep introspection on our collective hollowness. We urge the civil society to take this matter up and open avenues for permanent relief rather than stop-gap arrangement,” adds the statement.
A majority of the refugees at the camp are now unemployed, depending on the bare minimum that they have managed to receive from private individuals who donate when they can. Naeema wears a tattered mask as she leaves her tenement to borrow Rs. 50 from Amina, to buy a sachet of ORS. Her husband is experiencing diarrhoea, she explains. With a runny nose and dismayed eyes, she clenches the Rs. 50 note, hoping it will treat her husband’s Covid-19 symptoms. Many families in the camp are surviving only by borrowing from small amounts from neighbours, one day at a time. While they have been receiving poor-quality ration from UNHCR facilities, there has been no effort to treat those who may be ill.
The Rohingyas have been described by the UN as the world’s “most persecuted minority”, and action against the community by the Myanmar military has been described as “ethnic cleansing”. With the Indian government’s strict policies on immigration and refugees, close to 40,000 Rohingyas who had looked to India for protection are now in limbo. As fear among the Rohingya rises, several human rights organisations and lawyers have stepped in to stop the deportations, which they say go against the fabric of the Constitution of India.
On May 7, 2021, UNHCR’s Delhi office passed around a notice that informed refugees and asylums seeker of how to independently acquire vaccines, and promoted pandemic-appropriate behaviour.