The UNHCR is once again whimpering to all and sundry because India has deported seven Rohingya men to Myanmar because they had entered India illegally and were security risk. The UN refugee agency said it was “greatly concerned” for the safety and security of the seven men who were returned to Myanmar from India.
The men, who had been in detention for immigration offences since 2012, were handed over to Myanmar authorities at a border crossing in India’s northeast state of Manipur.
Before their deportation, the biased UNHCR had voiced concern that returning the men ignored the danger they faced in Myanmar, where for decades the Rohingya have been targeted in violent pogroms by security forces. This is what the vested interests within the UNHCR opine.
However they forget the terrorism which India has been facing since last thirty years. So no wonder the Indian authorities did not responded to UNHCR request that India assess the men’s claims to international refugee protection in the country.
“UNHCR regrets that the agency did not receive a response to this request and was unable to secure access for a lawyer from a state legal service,” agency spokesman Andrej Mahecic told reporters in Geneva.
“UNHCR continues to seek clarifications from the authorities on the circumstances under which these individuals were returned to Myanmar,” he said. He said the UN agency was “concerned that they did not have access to legal counsel, were not given the chance to access asylum processing and have their claims assessed in India.”
The UN special rapporteur on racism, Tendayi Achiume even tried display some toughness by of all things warning India that it risked breaking international laws on refoulement — the return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they could be harmed.
Tendayi should know that India adheres to its own laws and those conventions of UN which it has ratified …other wise as a Sovereign Nation it does not listen to even USA laws. The government had ordered last year that all Rohingya inside India — New Delhi puts the figure at 40,000 — be deported. The Supreme Court is considering a petition challenging the order as unconstitutional. However these 7 are not refugees and had entered India much before the present crisis.
Myanmar, refuses to recognize ROHINGYAS as citizens and labels them “Bengali” illegal immigrants. They were concentrated in Rakhine state, the epicenter of a Myanmar army offensive into a terrorism stronghold.
Over the past year some 720,000 Rohingya Muslims have gone back into Bangladesh. Myanmar’s army has denied any wrongdoing, insisting its campaign was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents.
However a vested and biased UN fact-finding mission said there was enough evidence to merit prosecution of several top Myanmar military commanders for crimes against humanity and genocide against Rohingya civilians.
New Delhi too i considers the Rohingya a security threat, pointing to intelligence which it says links the minority group to extremist organizations. Also India will not permit any Country or organization to interfere in the internal affairs of Myanmar. One middle east and one Afghanistan is more than enough.
