Massive crackdown against Rohingya settlers in Jammu

Families dismantled temporary structures after landowners received eviction notices from the administration

September 16, 2026

Fresh eviction drive targets Rohingya clusters

District authorities in Jammu have begun a fresh crackdown on unauthorised Rohingya settlements, with families clearing temporary structures in Narwal Bala after plot owners were served eviction notices.

The action comes a little over a month after a High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes (HLCDC) inspected the same locality during a field visit to study population shifts in border and adjoining areas.

Local reports said Rohingyas were evicted from the Narwal Basti area after authorities directed landowners to remove the temporary structures raised on their plots or face legal action.

Occupants dismantled tin sheds and other temporary structures overnight; debris and household goods were seen stacked along the roadside.

Similar clusters exist in Sunjwan, Bathindi, Bahu Fort and other pockets of Jammu city.

The drive follows the HLCDC’s first visit to Jammu from August 10–12. Committee members inspected a Rohingya slum in Narwal, visited the Jagti township of Kashmiri Pandit migrants, and met senior officials including Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo and Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat, as well as civil society groups and PoJK refugee representatives.

The panel, constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs in May 2026 and headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar, is mandated to study demographic change linked to illegal immigration and to recommend systems for identification, detention and deportation.

Four members—including Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar, retired IAS officer Durga Shankar Mishra, retired IPS officer Balaji Srivastava and economist Shamika Ravi—took part in the Jammu tour.

Official data presented to the committee put the number of Rohingyas in Jammu and Kashmir at 7,656: 6,737 in ten Jammu-division districts and 919 in the Kashmir Valley, along with several hundred Bangladeshi nationals.

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

Police recorded 101 cases against Rohingyas in Jammu (involving 200 accused) and 16 cases in the Valley. Security agencies have flagged concerns over alleged links to organised crime, narcotics and trafficking, even as overall settlement numbers in Jammu have been described as nearly static in the last two years, with some movement toward the Doda-Kishtwar and Rajouri and Poonch.

India treats undocumented Rohingyas as illegal immigrants rather than recognised refugees. UNHCR has registered many of those living in Jammu.

Community members said they have appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to be allowed to remain on humanitarian grounds until conditions in Myanmar permit a safe return. They argue they are registered with UNHCR and would leave when the situation in their country becomes conducive. Earlier winters have seen similar appeals after power and water connections to some settlements were disconnected, and landlords were told not to rent plots to undocumented occupants. Authorities have used a mix of tools: notices to landowners under tenant-verification and unauthorised-occupation rules, disconnection of utilities in some earlier drives, FIRs against those providing shelter, and detention of identified illegal immigrants in holding centres such as Hiranagar. The administration maintains that unauthorised construction on private plots and presence without valid documents cannot be regularised in a sensitive border region.

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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.

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