E-Paper
Don’t mind going back but ensure democracy, say Rohingyas in Hyderabad
Living in sub-human conditions, these Rohingya Muslims have been living under the fear of being deported back to their country.
Uncertainty, insecurity and squalor hangs over slums in Balapur, Hafeez Baba Nagar, Pahadishareef, Mir MominPahadi and Kishanbagh in the old city of Hyderabad. This has been home to over 4,000-odd Rohingyas for the last seven years.
Living in sub-human conditions, these Rohingya Muslims have been living under the fear of being deported back to their country. “We do not know when we get to hear from the authorities asking us to pack up and return to Myanmar. We have been spending sleepless nights thinking what would happen to us tomorrow,” says 38-year old Muhammad Fareed, who is working as daily-wage labourer.
Recent statements by leaders have added to their fear. Launching the party’s election campaign on Wednesday, the BJP president Amit Shah, addressing a massive rally in Karimnagar, declared that the Centre will take steps to identify each and every Rohingya migrant, including those settled in Hyderabad and parts of Telangana and send them back to their country, as they posed a major security threat to the nation.
Firebrand BJP legislator from Hyderabad, T Raja Singh also demanded that if Rohingyas did not leave India respectfully, they should be gunned down to make the country safe.
The Rohingyas settled in Hyderabad are now reconciled to the fact that they might be told to go back sooner or later. “We don’t mind going back to our country, provided the international community shall ensure safety and security there. We want restoration of democracy in Myanmar, so that we can enjoy freedom. We don’t want to go there just to be massacred and tortured,” says 51-year old Hameedulla Haq, who has been eking out his livelihood by selling clothes. His wife does the tailoring at the Balapur settlement.
Most of the Rohingya Muslims fled their native place of Rakhine in northern Myanmar, following 2011-12 violence in which thousands of Muslims were allegedly massacred by the Myanmar military and radical Buddhist monks.
“We haven’t faced any problems from Telangana government. The local police have also not been troubling any of us,” says Fareed.
Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner of Police (North Zone) Amber Kishore Jha told HT that he was yet to receive any orders from the Centre to evict them. “We have multiple wings under the police department. Maybe, one such wing might be making enquiries about Rohingyas,” Jha said.
