155 Rohingyas detained by Jammu and Kashmir police in a holding center, likely to be deported soon after completing the verification process

• 155 Rohingyas detained by Jammu and Kashmir police in a holding centre, likely to be deported soon after completing the verification process.
• MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) expected to take up the issue of deporting them with Myanmar after receiving a detailed report from MHA (Minister of State for Home Affairs).
• Massive verification drive launched after the recovery of fake Aadhar and Passport documents.

First time J&K police has launched a massive drive to identify the illegal immigrants and initiate proceedings to deport

The first batch of 155 Rohingyas, illegal immigrants from Myanmar, camping here in different districts of Jammu and Kashmir have been shifted to a holding centre in Sub jail Hiranagar late Saturday night after they could not produce their valid travel documents.

It is for the first time Jammu and Kashmir police has launched a massive drive on the clear directions of the Ministry of Home Affairs to identify the illegal immigrants and initiate proceedings to deport them to their own countries after following due process of law.

In Jammu, these illegal immigrants were identified during the ongoing verification drive at Maulana Azad Stadium.

The decision was taken to start the verification drive after the recovery of fake documents such as Aadhar card and Passport from a group of Rohingyas in the last week of February.

According to Mukesh Singh, Inspector General of Police, Jammu range, “During verification, 155 illegal immigrant Rohingyas staying in the UT of J&K were identified and sent to the holding centre in Hira Nagar, established vide Home department notification dated March 5, 2021.

“This was done under section 3(2)(e) of the Foreigners Act. Due process of law was followed in this exercise,” Mukesh Singh said in a written statement.

Giving details, he added that these immigrants were not holding valid travel documents required in terms of section (3) of the Passports Act.

According to him the exercise of identifying more such immigrants is still in progress. “After sending them to the holding centres, the process of nationality verification will be done as per the prescribed process. After completion of the nationality verification, the process of deportation of these illegal immigrants will be initiated,” he added.

Recovery of Fake Aadhar card, Passport card set off the alarm bells

On February 23 when a team of Jammu and Kashmir police had made a recovery of some fake documents such as Aadhar card and Passport, these had pressed alarm bells in front of their senior officers. Following these recoveries, a special permission was sought from the Union Home Ministry to carry out a fresh verification drive to identify the illegal immigrants staying here in Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, separate investigations were being conducted by the Trikuta Nagar Police after an FIR No. 71/2021 u/s 419, 465, 467468, 471 IPC was lodged against two suspected individuals identified as Aashiq-ul- Rehman s/o Ali Ahmad, resident of Myanmar at present near Mattoo Medical Hall Bathindi Morh, Jammu and Abdul Gafoor S/o Abdul Jabbar resident of Rahim Nagar, Jammu.

According to police, Abdul Ghafoor was a cleric and camping in a mosque in Bhatindi area of Jammu.

Most of the Rohingyas settled in Jammu are camping near security installations

According to a J&k Home department report tabled in the state assembly on February 2, 2018, “a total number of 6523 Rohingyas were found camping across 39 different locations spread across five districts of Jammu and Kashmir.”

According to the Home department report, “6461 Rohingyas were staying in Jammu division and 62 in Kashmir division.”

However, local activists and politicians, spearheading a campaign in support of their deportation, often contest these figures claiming large numbers of these illegal immigrants are scattered and even their biometrics have not been collected by the security personnel.

What is alarming is that most of these illegal migrants have managed mobile phone sims, using fake documents to register themselves with the service providers. This is considered to be a cause of major security concern.

Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.