Jammu, the Rohingyas’ second home
The situation in Jammu is assuming dangerous proportions with each passing day. It has climaxed to the point that the illegally staying Rohingya intruders have been settled at highly sensitive and strategic locations in and around Jammu city. They have been settled near Sunjuwan, Nagrota, and Kaluchak Army camps; along the national highway; on high hills across River Tawi; near Jammu Railway Station; and along the railway track near sensitive places like Indian Oil Depot in the Channi Rama area. That things have worsened can be seen from the fact that the Rohingyas, who were sent to Jammu by forces inimical to Bharat and who were brought to Jammu by a Kashmiri for settlement after 2007, term the Sunjuwan-Bathindi-Narwal area in Jammu as the “Indian capital of Rohingyas” and consider Jammu as their “second home.”
Involvement in crimes
According to a report, “some locals charge rents from these Rohingyas to allow them in their vacant plots, most of which are grabbed pieces of government lands, but others living in the vicinity of such plots feel fear due to the presence of these Burma nationals owing to their involvement in various crimes, including terrorism.”
It would be only desirable to quote verbatim certain other portions from a recent report to put things in perspective. The report read like this: “Ex-Army Captain Maroof Ahmed, 59, who lives near Armed Police Lines in Channi Rama, claimed that Rohingyas living in that area were mostly involved in crimes like thefts wherein they even not spared a mosque at Channi in this regard. From where these residents of Burma got permission to settle here while police verification is necessary even for locals to even get a rental accommodation, he said.”
The report further said: “Similarly, Mansoor Ahmed, 52, a shopkeeper at Chakki Mohalla in Channi Rama said some locals have rented their vacant plots to Rohingyas while they themselves either live in Srinagar or at some other places, but those who continue to live in these areas with the illegal immigrants as neighbours, are left to face thefts by these people…They even stole things from railway tracks to sell as scrap, he informed.”
Besides, the report further read: “One more ex-serviceman Captain Ashok Kumar, 65, of Channi Rama said that they can’t leave their house all alone even to attend last rites of some relative fearing theft by Rohingyas living in the vicinity. A similar concern was expressed by one Sanjay Singh, also living in the Channi area…Councillor of Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), Kamal Singh Jamwal of Ward number 49 (Channi Rama), informed that there are about 60-70 shanties in the Chakki Mohalla area of his Ward where Rohingyas live…Some locals have settled them in their vacant plots and they charge rent from them while the Rohingyas have secured illegal water and power connections and they have nothing to do with smart meters, Jamwal further informed…He also informed that these people were often found involved in narcotic addiction and peddling and they also possess Aadhar Cards. They have even settled along the railway track near the Indian Oil depot in the Channi Rama area from where they can easily shoot videos and click photos of such vital installations to pose a grave security challenge, the JMC Councillor maintained.”
Reaction of Jammu police
In response to a query, Superintendent Police Jammu South, Shaheen Wahid, said that “settlement of such elements at sensitive places will be strictly looked into” and that “the police will definitely do all that is required to be done for the safety of the region”[1].
Theft at NIA building
The weak-kneed official policy towards these illegal aliens has emboldened them to the extent that only on September 26, 2023, a Rohingya, Syed ul Karim, along with two other thieves, committed an act of burglary in the premises of an under-construction building of none other than National Investigation Agency (NIA) at Jammu’s Sidhra.
A report in this regard, inter-alia, said: “In (a) case registered on September 26, 2023, one Rahul Gupta son of Mohan Lal Gupta of Gandhi Nagar, Jammu, contractor, NIA building at Sidhra, alleged theft of two iron poles from the premises of the under-construction building. On this, a case FIR number 385/2023 under section 379 of the IPC was registered at Police Station Nagrota and further investigation was taken up. During the investigation, the same party of Police Post Sidhra apprehended two suspects identified as Mohammad Faryard and Fazal Hussain, residents of Batra, Sidhra, Jammu. The duo confessed their involvement in the crime during sustained questioning and on their disclosure, the stolen poles and a motorcycle used for the commission of the offence were recovered”[2].
Rohingyas marrying local Muslims
That there are elements in the establishment and others who have been hatching conspiracy against the nation in this part of the country by trying their best to change the demographic profile could also be seen from what happened in the already rather sensitive Kishtwar district of Jammu province. On October 6, 2023, the J&K Police booked three persons, including a Rohingya woman, Anwara Begum, after she “fraudulently” obtained a domicile certificate in her name. Apart from Anwara Begum, the J&K Police arrested a facilitator and a revenue official, who issued the domicile certificate.
What did Kishtwar SSP, Khalil Poswal, say while reacting to these three arrests? He, among other, things, said: “In Kishtwar, especially in Marwah-Dachan areas, Rohingya women have married local men. Earlier, they were booked and convicted under the Foreigner’s Act, but now a case of obtaining domicile certificates has surfaced…Anwara Begum, who has married a local man, Fayaz Ahmad Chopan, in Dachan, has fraudulently obtained a domicile certificate. She is not a citizen of this country. Law will take its own course…There are Rohingya women in Dachan who have married locals and settled there. In this instant case, her husband in connivance with some officials obtained her a domicile certificate. We consider it as fake and we have registered a case…We will also see how they got Aadhar cards…”
A report in The Hindustan Times also said: “Officials privy to the development told HT that illegal immigrants have now started obtaining domicile certificates…They already had managed Aadhar Cards and now domicile certificates are certainly a cause of concern for us…Anwara Begum has married a local man and has given birth to his children. She obtained a domicile certificate on September 19, 2020. However, the matter surfaced now, the officials said…”
The HT report further reads: “On April 6 last year (2022), the J&K and Ladakh High Court had directed the Home Secretary to identify all illegal immigrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh in J&K within six months. A government document then had also stated that 17 FIRs were registered against 38 Rohingyas for various offences, including those related to illegal border crossing and drug trafficking…On March 25, 2017, the then Jammu district commissioner Simrandeep Singh recovered fake state subject certificates, Voter ID Cards, Aadhar Cards, and Ration Cards from the temporary shelters of Rohingyas in Jammu”[3].
Rohingyas’ intrusion in border areas
The same day (Oct 6), a 35-year-old Rohingya, Mohd Noman, son of Mohib Ullah, was arrested in the Jammu’s border belt, Mendhar area of Poonch district, along with a fake Indian Aadhar Card and Ration Card.
In this regard, a police spokesman said that “35-year-old Mohd Noman, son of Mohib Ullah, hailing from Myanmar and presently residing with fake identity at Dhar Galoon in Balakote area of Mendhar, was arrested by police.” He also said: “He (the Rohingya) was living in the house of a local villager Nazir Hussain, son of Mohd Yousuf of Dhar Galoon, and had married the daughter of Nazir Hussain. He entered into a criminal conspiracy with some concerned government employees and managed to prepare Aadhar and Ration Cards”[4].
Indifferent attitude of the government
It needs to be underlined that the concerned sections of society in Jammu have expressed their grave concern from time to time and demanded the deportation of all the illegal aliens, including Rohingyas and Bangladeshis, but with no result. Even their massive protests and long marches in Jammu failed to move the concerned authorities. The concerned authorities didn’t really take action against elements in and outside the establishment who facilitated the settlement of the illegal aliens in Jammu and helped them in every respect to change the demography of Jammu and further muddy the Indian waters.
It is clear that certain elements in the establishment, forces hostile to the nation and Kashmiri outfits like the National Conference, the Congress, and the Peoples Democratic Party, which day in and day out accuse the Narendra Modi government of changing the demography of J&K and oppose the settlement of Rohingyas in Kashmir Valley, have all supported, and continue to support, these illegal aliens. These hostile forces have all along worked in tandem to create a situation in Jammu that helps Pakistan accomplish its unaccomplished agenda – annexation of J&K with the help of locals. And, it’s also too well known that all terrorist outfits based in Pakistan, Pakistan-occupied-Jammu and Ladakh (PoJL) and Kashmir, all “civil society groups” and other organizations in Kashmir, and all so-called human rights outfits have extended their fullest possible support to these illegal aliens. The terror outfits had even threatened the critics of the Rohingyas’ settlement in Jammu and Mehbooba Mufti, who led the PDP-BJP coalition government between April 2016 and June 2018, had threatened action against the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), which had warned of a direct action against the illegal aliens in the event of the authorities not expelling them from Jammu.
Kashmiri Muslim leadership mum
Kashmiri Muslim politicians, including Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Sajad Lone, Altaf Bukhari, and M Y Tarigami, to mention only a few, who have been opposing tooth and nail the post-2019 domicile policy, have not uttered a single word on what happened in Jammu after September 2023. The reasons are not really difficult to fathom. On the contrary, they continue to accuse the Narendra Modi government of hatching a conspiracy to change the “Muslim-majority character of J&K” (by settling non-Muslims). They are even going to the extent of warning the people of Jammu province (read Hindus) that the new domicile policy and the 2019 reform scheme of PM Narendra Modi will hurt them the most as “no outsider would ever settle in Kashmir.”
Supreme Court and Rohingyas
In the meantime, the Supreme Court on October 10, 2023, sought a response from the Centre on a plea seeking the release of Rohingyas detained in jails/ kept in detention centres or juvenile homes across the country. In fact, that day, the apex court admitted a plea of Priyali Sur, a multimedia journalist, issued a notice to the Narendra Modi government on the issue and directed the listing of the case after four weeks.
In the petition, Priyali Sur contended that “the incarceration of the refugees is a violation of the fundamental right to equality before the law (Article 14) and the protection of life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21, available to all – citizens and others – under the Constitution of India.”
To be more precise, the petitioner sought “a direction from the apex court to restrain the governments from arbitrarily detaining any Rohingya refugee for being an illegal immigrant or under the Foreigner’s Act.” Besides, the petitioner asserted this: “The continued detention of the Rohingya refugees is illegal and unconstitutional, violative of fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 21 and 14 of the Constitution, guaranteed to all persons residing in India, citizens or otherwise…Facing genocide in Myanmar and being stateless people, the Rohingya refugees have fled in waves since the violence began, to neighbouring countries, including India…The Rohingyas in India face ‘growing anti-Muslim and anti-refugee xenophobia’ and live in constant fear of detention and even deportation back to the genocidal regime from which they fled”[5].
The petitioner’s lawyers included Prashant Bhushan, a votary of the referendum in Kashmir. It bears recalling that on January 5, 2014, the SC lawyer and then AAP leader Prashant Bhushan called for a referendum in Kashmir. In an interview with Aaj Tak’s Seedhi Baat, Prashant had, inter-alia, said: “People (in this case Muslims) should be asked whether they want that the army to handle the internal security of Kashmir. Any decision which does not have the backing of the people is undemocratic. If people feel that the army is violating human rights and they say they don’t want the army to be deployed for their security then the army should be withdrawn from the hinterland”[6].
Time to act
It is hoped that PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah will look all these facts in the face and act accordingly in the larger national interest without losing a moment. To mark time would be only to further strengthen the forces of disintegration. They would do well to remember that if Jammu falls, Bharat would also fall. Remember, the enemies, which have already converted Kashmir, also want to convert Jammu into Syria and create a situation for Bharat which is similar to one the under-attack Israel has been facing from Gaza/ Hamas.
The best thing for the Narendra Modi government to do is to immediately separate Jammu from Kashmir and hand over the state power to the people of the under-threat Jammu so that they become powerful enough to protect and promote further Bharat’s paramount interests. The sooner it is done, the better for the nation.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
Reference:
[1] Rohingyas settle at vacant plots, manage illegal water, power connections – Oct 03, 2023 Daily Excelsior
[2] Rohingya among three thieves held – Oct 03, 2023 Daily Excelsior
[3] Rohingya woman among 3 booked for obtaining domicile certificates – Oct 07, 2023, Hindustan Times
[4] ‘Rohingya’ arrested, fake Aadhar, Ration Card seized in Mendhar – Oct 07, 2023 Daily Excelsior
[5] SC notice to Centre on a plea for release of Rohingyas – Oct 11, 2023, The Statesman
[6] Prashant Bhushan wants referendum on Army presence in Kashmir, sees AAP govt at Centre – Jan 06, 2023, India Today
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