Hyderabad: 20-fold increase seen in influx of Rohingyas
Biometric scan done to avert any untoward incident.
Hyderabad: With a 20-fold increase in the number of migrants from Myanmar in the city, police officials in Telangana say that the migrants are allowed to live in the city only on humanitarian grounds but do not have any legal status.
Foreseeing a threat perception, police officials said that they had done a complete retina and fingerprint scan of the Myanmar nationals living in the three commissionerates – Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Rachakonda, to ensure that they were not involved in any illegal activities.
There are about 6000 Myanmar nationals living in the three commissionerates, making Hyderabad the second place in the country with the most number of refugees after Kashmir. “There were only 300 refugees in Hyderabad in 2012. This number has become 6000 in the last six years, resulting in a higher threat perception. However, so far, the refugees are not involved in any extremist activities and multiple agencies are keeping a close tab on them.” said a senior police official of Telangana.
The refugees, who have come to India through various routes, are given a refugee status card by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) but it does not have any legal status as it has not been ratified by the Government of India so far. It may be recalled that in September last year, Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home, had told media that Rohingyas needed to be deported as per law.
Responding to a query, the police officer on condition of anonymity said “As and when we have information about the illegal activities of the Rohingyas, we arrest them. The UNHCR card is not recognised by the Government of India and they are allowed only on humanitarian grounds.” Continuous checks were being carried out at the Rohingya camps and retina and fingerprint scanning of nearly 6,000 migrants had been done, the official added.
The Rachakonda police have arrested at least 35 persons so far, for obtaining the Aadhaar card and other identification cards through mediators using fake documents.