Modi government to provide refuge to Rohingyas; flats, basic amenities, police protection to be assured

The government has said that it respects the 1951 Refugee Convention of the UN.

(File Photo)

August 17, 2022

The union government on August 17, 2022, decided to rehabilitate the Rohingya Muslim “refugees” in Delhi, into flats equipped with basic facilities and round-the-clock security. The Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs and Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri informed on Twitter that:

India has always welcomed those who have sought refuge in the country. In a landmark decision, all Rohingya refugees will be shifted to EWS flats in Bakkarwala area of Delhi. They will be provided basic amenities, UNHCR IDs & round-the-clock Delhi police protection.

Puri further added:

Those who made a career out of spreading canards on India’s refugee policy deliberately linking it to CAA will be disappointed. India respects & follows UN Refugee Convention 1951 and provides refuge to all, regardless of their race, religion or creed.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) intends to facilitate granting Indian citizenship to the people belonging to the persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. The Parliament of India passed the CAA bill on December 11, 2019, and notified it within 24 hours. However, the rules of the Act are not yet framed. In April 2022, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs sought another extension till October 9 to frame the rules of the CAA. This was the fifth extension sought by the union government from the parliamentary committee of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. In August 2022, after meeting the Union Minister for Home Affairs, Amit Shah, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician and leader of opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari stated that:

He (Amit Shah) assured me of the implementation of CAA. But, the country is facing some challenges related to Covid. Therefore, it will be done once the booster dose drive is over.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader from West Bengal and former governor of Tripura, Tathagata Roy has questioned the Narendra Modi-led BJP government’s decision to rehabilitate Rohingya Muslims in the national capital. Roy wrote on Twitter:

This is INCREDIBLE Sir! Rohingiya Muslims are illegal infiltrators, not refugees, under the CAA! They are distinctly unwelcome even in Muslim-majority Bangladesh! Have we bid goodbye to all our principles? Are we about to light our own funeral pyre!

In October 2021, the BJP-led union government has opposed the petition filed in the Delhi High Court which asked for electricity connections for 200 Pakistani Hindu migrant families living in the Adarsh Nagar area. The union government had termed the Pakistani Hindu refugees as “unauthorized occupants” who had illegally encroached on the land of Delhi Jal Board Maidan.

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