India’s treatment of Rohingya Muslims like sending them ‘back into killing field’: rights group
- A report by Fortify Rights, a non-governmental group, said Indian authorities were beating Rohingya refugees, denying them due process rights and indefinitely detaining them
- India’s alleged abuse of Rohingya comes as ‘many politicians over the years have stirred up anti-Rohingya sentiment’, the group adds
The group said immigration officials in late July detained dozens of Rohingya in northern Uttar Pradesh state, while in a separate incident a week earlier, hundreds of refugees in Jammu faced tear gas and beatings after protesting their indefinite detention, including through a hunger strike.
“India should provide a safe haven for Rohingya fleeing genocidal attacks and other international crimes in Myanmar,” said Zaw Win, human rights specialist at Fortify Rights. “Rather than continuing their persecution, the Indian government should allow Rohingya refugees access to legal status, education, livelihoods and freedom of movement.”
Fearing arbitrary arrest by Indian authorities, some Rohingya refugees were said to have fled from India to Bangladesh, the group said.
John Quinley III, a director at Fortify Rights, told This Week in Asia that India should uphold the rights of refugees and urgently end the detention of Rohingya Muslims.
“We found that Rohingya children, youth, women and men are all detained,” Quinley said, adding that Rohingya youth who want to be educated and serve their community were instead being detained for years on end.
He noted India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been casting the community in a negative light.