In fresh PIL, BJP spokesperson seeks SC intervention to deport Rohingya refugees

Amid escalating trouble for the immigrated Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, BJP spokesperson Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay has on Saturday filed a fresh PIL at the Supreme Court pleading the apex body to direct the Centre and the State governments to identify, detain and deport all the illegal migrants and infiltrators, including Bangladeshis and Rohingyas within one year. And even as the central government keeps stressing on the deportation of the Rohingya refugees from India, Upadhyay in his petition sought for the SC’s directive to amend the respective laws to make illegal migration and infiltration, a cognizable non-bailable and non-compoundable offence.

Further pleading for a stern action against those providing forged or fabricated documents to the refugees, the petitioner adjured the SC to direct the Central and State Government to declare the making of forged/fabricated PAN Cards, AADHAR Cards, Passport, Ration Cards and Voter Cards and such other documents, a non-bailable, non-compoundable and cognizable offence and amend respective laws accordingly. He further pleaded the SC to direct government officials to identify travel agents, government employees & other such people, who directly or indirectly provide PAN Card, AADHAR Cards, Ration Cards, Passport and Voter Cards to illegal migrants and infiltrators and take stern against them.

With thousands of Rohingya Muslims seeking refuge in India, to avoid the ethnic unrest in the Rakhine state of Myanmar, the Indian government has been stressing on the deportation of the immigrants, with many prominent leaders calling them a “security threat for the country”. Days back, after Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, the top United Nations human rights official, condemned Myanmar’s “brutal security operation” in Rakhine state, Syed Akbaruddin, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN said “enforcing laws should not be mistaken for lack of compassion” and also regretted the UN body’s overlook on the “central role of terrorism”. Further insisting that the country must be concerned about illegal migrants with possible security threats to the country, Akbaruddin said, “Assessments of human rights should not be a matter of political convenience. We believe achieving human rights goals calls for objective consideration, balanced judgments, and verification of facts.”

Myanmar has been facing soaring pressure from the international body with harsh global condemnation as several thousand of Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine state to escape ethnic unrest in the area. Recently, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson termed the violence ‘unacceptable’ and rights group Amnesty claimed to have evidence of the military’s systematic torching of villages.