Two-member UNHCR team meets Rohingyas in Jammu

Jammu, Dec 11 (IANS) Officials said here on Wednesday that a two-member team of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) met the members of the Rohingya community staying illegally in J&K's Jammu city.

“A two-member team of UNHCR met Rohingya Muslims at a slum here on Monday,” officials said.

The meeting took place in the aftermath of a heated controversy over the continuation of basic amenities like water and electricity to these illegal settlers.

Senior Protection Officer, Tomoko Fukumura along with Protection Associate, Ragini Trakroo Zutshi on Monday met the Rohingya Muslims and some local residents in the Kiryani Talab area of Narwal in Jammu City.

The head of the team said they would return to Delhi Wednesday evening as their attempt to meet some police officials had failed.

On December 7, Jammu and Kashmir Jal Shakti Minister Javed Rana said the water supply would not be snapped to the slums housing the immigrants pending a call from the Centre on their deportation.

Rana’s statement came after Rohingyas living on three plots of land in the Narwal area of Jammu claimed that their power and water supply were snapped recently despite being registered with the UNHCR.

J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the Centre should decide the fate of the Rohingya population settled in Jammu asserting that they could not be allowed to die of starvation or cold.

“It is a humanitarian issue. The central government should decide about them (Rohingyas). If they are to be sent back, do that. If you can, send them back. If you cannot send them back, we cannot starve them to death. They cannot be allowed to die of cold. The Government of India should tell us what we have to do with them. As long as they are here, we need to take care of them,” the CM said.

The former chief minister and president of National Conference (NC), Dr Farooq Abdullah said on Tuesday that the Government of India had brought the Rohingyas to J&K and it is the duty of the local government to provide them with basic amenities of life.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has, however, demanded a CBI probe into the settlements of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis in Jammu calling it a political conspiracy.

The BJP has also questioned the ‘sympathy’ of the J&K government towards these settlers alleging that had the settlers belonged to some other religion, the J&K government would have behaved differently.

Official records reveal that there are around 14,000 Rohingyas settled illegally in Jammu city.