Rohingyas: Background, Government Policy and Recent NHRC Notice

In August 2017, the ministry of home affairs has sent a letter to the state governments asking them to identify and deport all illegal immigrants including Rohingyas. Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to government to frame a detailed report and raised various concerns.

Background on Rohingyas

Rohingyas Muslims are the ethnic minority in coastal Rakhine state of Myanmar. Their origin is disputed but they are thought to be Muslims from Indian subcontinent. Most of their ancestors were taken to western Myanmar by British government in 1820s to work as farm labourers mainly from Chittagong in British India. The rate at which they entered Arakan (old name of Rakhine) alarmed local people. After the WW-II, the British departed from Myanmar and a large number of these people also left to India / East Pakistan. But then, communal clashes started between left out Rohingyas and Buddhists. This was a time of Rohingyas militancy. They formed groups and demanded either a separate nation for themselves or discretion to join East Pakistan. In 1962 coup, the military came to power and crackdown started over them. Via the Burmese Citizenship Act, 1982, the Rohingyas were officially excluded from citizenship rights in Myanmar. Since then, frequent violence has erupted between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingyas. Due to violence, Rohingyas started to flee from Myanmar in all sides and entered into various countries including Bangladesh, India, Thailand and even Australia. They started getting international attention after 2012 / 2016 riots in Rakhine.

Role of Myanmar Government

The role of Myanmar government has been of institutionalized discrimination against the Rohingyas. Despite the fact that Burma like India is a multiethnic country, and the ancestors of Rohingyas were living there since British Era, the 1982 law gave national citizenship to only Burmese. The Rohingyas were classified only as “associate citizens”. This deprived them of holding the government office and other rights available to citizens. This law had clauses to restrict their movement, marriages and birth rates also.

The implication of this policy was that armed struggles started between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingyas; and this led to mass outflow of Rohingyas into all sides including Bangladesh, India and even towards Australia.

International Response

United Nations calls Rohingyas as stateless and most persecuted minority of the world. The Human Rights Watch calls the military crackdown in Myanmar as a case of Ethnic cleansing. UN office of Human Rights calls it a crime against humanity’. In 2016, when former UN chief Kofi Annan had visited Myanmar, he was met by protesters who were against foreign intervention in their domestic affairs. In these years, several protests have occurred in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Thailand etc in support of Rohingyas. Further, the assault on them is also attracting Jihadists all around to radicalize them.

Rohingyas in India

Thousands of Rohingyas have illegally entered into India particularly since 2013, when Bangladesh closed its door for them. They enter India via North East and currently Hyderabad, Haryana, UP, Delhi-NCR, Jammu and Rajasthan are their main places of settlement. Currently, their population is around 40,000. The government fears that they pose a security threat to the country, particularly their settlements in Jammu are more prone to be radicalized.

Rohingyas in India- Current Government Policy

The Rohingyas are not classified / given a status of refugee in India, and that is the reason that they are not living in refugee camps.  The government of India calls them “illegally staying foreign nationals” and has recently directed the states to set up district task forces to “identify and deport” the foreign nationals. India is also not a signatory to the Convention on Refugees, 1951 or the 1967 Protocol and is not bound to give them status of refugees. Further, government of India has not established any refugee camps for Rohingyas or Bangladeshis. With respect to foreign citizens, currently Indi has some schemes for assistance to Tibetan and Sri Lanka refugees. Since the country is not a signatory to UN Refugee convention, the government follows Standard Operating Protocol. As per this protocol, the statement / UT governments can recommended the Home ministry to provide Long Term Visa (LTV) to those people who are staying in India due to persecution on race, religion, sex, nationality, ethnic identity, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.  Such visas are given after due security verification.

The government policy has drawn some criticism on the basis of human rights. The opponents of this policy say that India has given refugees to all kinds of people since thousands of years and has some obligations towards these people also by virtue of being signatory to other conventions on Human Rights. It is yet to be seen how government responds to these voices and how it is able to maintain balance between human rights and security and national interest. Some have also accused India to violate the “principle of non-refoulement”. This principle is related to international refugee law and says that no person should be returned to a country where he / she faces persecution. India is not bound to follow this principle also.

The Recent NHRC Notice

The recent steps taken by the government have been also criticized by the National Human Rights Commission. NHRC has issued a notice to the Union Home Secretary to frame a detailed report as to the cause of deportation of these refugees in a span of four weeks.  Some of the concerns raised by the NHRC are that the refugees should be given a humane treatment in the country even though they are foreign nationals.  So, a one sided and selfish view should not be taken and the needs of the community as human beings should be heard. NHRC has called this decision a blatant violation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India that is, right to life and personal liberty. It has claimed that this provision has been extended to everyone irrespective of nationality.  Government response is that being poor; they are more vulnerable to the terror outfits; and burden will be posed by the refugees on the limited resources of a country like India.