India urged not to deport Rohingya Muslims

NEW DELHI: Rights groups urged India on Thursday to abide by its international legal obligations after the government said it was looking to deport tens of thousands of Rohingya migrants.

India’s junior home minister Kiren Rijiju told parliament last week the government had asked state authorities to identify and deport the Rohingya, a stateless ethnic minority who mostly live in neighbouring Myanmar, where they face discrimination and violence.

In recent years, thousands have fled across the border to Bangladesh and on to other countries including India, which does not recognise them as refugees even though the United Nations says they are.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said India should abide by its international obligations.

"Indian authorities should abide by India’s international legal obligations and not forcibly return any Rohingya to Burma without first fairly evaluating their claims as refugees," said Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement on Thursday.

The number of Rohingya migrants has swelled in recent years. Rijiju said in a written response to parliament that around 40,000 were living illegally in India. Thousands fled Myanmar after a military crackdown last October in Rakhine state launched in response to an armed attack on border posts. —AFP