E-Paper
MHA asks states to trace Rohingya Muslims who attended Tablighi Jamaat event
The ministry has asked all the state governments and police chiefs to trace the Rohingyas and their contacts on a “priority” basis.
With close to 26,000 members of the Tablighi Jamaat and their contacts already under Covid-19 quarantine, the ministry of home affairs has found that Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar spread across regions of India, too, attended activities of the Islamic group in March and several of them were missing.
The ministry has asked all the state governments and police chiefs to trace the Rohingyas and their contacts on a “priority” basis.
In a letter sent to all state chief secretaries, directors generals of police and the Delhi police commissioner, a copy which was reviewed by HT, the MHA wrote:“It has been reported that Rohingya Muslis have attended ‘ijtemas’ (largest annual Islamic congregation organized by Tablighi Jamaat – March 13 to 15) and other religious congregations of Tablighi Jamaat and there is a possibility of their contracting Covid-19.”
“Rohingyas residing in camps in Hyderabad, Telangana had attended Tablighi Jamaat ijtema at Mewat, Haryana and had visited Nizamuddin Markaz at New Delhi. Similarly, Rohingyas living in Shram Vihar, Shaheen Bagh, Delhi who had gone for TJ activities, have not returned to their camps”.
Following the Tablighi Jamaat’s mid-March congregation at its Markaz headquarters in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Basti, the area emerged as the country’s biggest hotspot of the coronavirus disease.
The MHA’s letter said the presence of Rohingya Muslims who attended the Tabligh Jamaat events has been reported from Derabassi, Punjab and the Jammu area.
“Rohingya Muslims and their contacts need to be screened for Covid-19. Accordingly, necessary measures may be taken in this regard on priority,” the MHA letter said.
According to an estimate by the government, there are around 40,000 Rohingyas living in camps across several states in India; 17,500 of them are registered as refugees with the United Nations.
A senior official who didn’t wish to be named noted the spurt in Covid-19 cases following the event in the Markaz,, and said: “... if Rohingyas ,who attended it ,living in camps across states ,are also affected, then it will be a bigger problem.”
