'India not a dharamshala': Haryana minister says collecting info about Rohingyas

Several news reports claimed that Rohingyas have been taking shelter in the Nuh village of Haryana's Mewat district.

Haryana home minister Anil Vij said on Friday that his government is collecting information about presence of Rohingyas Muslims in the state. Vij's comments came after several reports claimed that the Rohingyas have been gather in Haryana's Mewat district.

Haryana home minister Anil Vij had said on the eve of the budget session that the state government planned to introduce the Bill to curb love jihad, a term he coined to refer to forced conversions for marriage. (HT file photo)

"We are collecting information about them. Action will be taken accordingly. After all, India is not a dharamshala (an inn or small hotel) where anybody can stay where they like. We will look into this," the minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Earlier, several news reports claimed that Rohingyas have been taking shelter in the Nuh village of Haryana's Mewat district.

They have been found in other parts of the country too. On March 6, over 150 Rohingya refugees were sent to a holding centre in Jammu as part of the Jammu & Kashmir administration’s process to identify undocumented immigrants in the Union Territory under the Foreigners Act. The administration has said it will work on their deportation to Myanmar.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea seeking the release and protection of these refugees.

Rohingyas are a minority in Myanmar’s Rakhine, where an intense military crackdown - likened to an ethnic cleansing by the United Nations - has driven hundreds of thousands to flee to countries such as Bangladesh and India.

Certain political parties and social organisations have urged the Centre to take immediate steps for the deportation of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis alleging that their presence is a "conspiracy to alter the demographic character" of the region and "a threat to the peace in the region".

The issue is a sensitive one for the central government. Last month, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti spoke at the informal UN General Assembly meeting on the situation in Myanmar after the military staged a coup this month. He emphasised the need for an early return of displaced Rohingyas from Bangladesh to Myanmar, saying that India has the highest stake in resolving the issue since it is the only nation that shares a long border with both countries.

Tirumurti also urged the international community to ensure that the recent developments in Myanmar do not impede the progress made so far.

Myanmar military seized the power on February 1, detaining the country's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The military coup took place at a time when Bangladesh was spearheading a desperate campaign for safe return of some 1.1 million Rohingyas.

Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, who fled Myanmar facing military crackdown, often considered as "ethnic cleansing" by many rights groups.

Myanmar doesn’t recognise Rohingya as an ethnic group and insists that they are Bangladeshi migrants living illegally in the country.