Uncertain Future for Rohingya Refugees in India
Thousands of Rohingya refugees in India live in constant fear. A recent attempt by the Manipur state government to deport them has cast a dark shadow over their already precarious existence.
Who are the Rohingya?
The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic minority from Myanmar. They’ve faced persecution and violence for decades in the Buddhist-majority country, which denies them citizenship and basic rights. In 2017, a brutal military crackdown forced over 750,000 Rohingya to flee Myanmar. Most ended up in Bangladesh, while some sought refuge in India.
Living on the Edge in India
India isn’t a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, meaning it doesn’t have a formal system to protect refugees. The Rohingya there exist in a legal limbo. Many have UNHCR cards recognizing them as persecuted, but the Indian government doesn’t necessarily consider these a right to reside in the country.
Fear of Deportation and Violence
The recent deportation attempt in Manipur left Rohingya refugees across India terrified. Muhammad Hamin, a young Rohingya pursuing a degree in Delhi, constantly monitors news for updates. The deportation threat hangs heavy, especially during Ramadan.
This fear is compounded by the ongoing civil war in Myanmar. Deportation could put them at risk of being used as human shields by the military or facing persecution for leaving the country.
A Controversial Citizenship Law
Adding insult to injury is India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). This law grants citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighboring countries, but excludes Muslims. The Rohingya, despite facing well-documented persecution, are left out due to their religion. This fuels accusations of double standards and pandering to anti-Muslim sentiment.
Legal Challenges and a Fight for Rights
Rohingya activists are challenging the government’s stance in court. They argue that the right to life applies to everyone in India, including refugees fleeing persecution. The Constitution, they say, protects their right to non-refoulement, meaning they shouldn’t be returned to a place where they face violence.
Facing Hate Speech and Negative Media Portrayal
Social media platforms like Facebook are rife with anti-Rohingya hate speech. Hamin and fellow refugees filed a petition against Facebook, urging them to remove such content that brands them as terrorists and increases the risk of attacks.
The Indian media’s portrayal of Rohingya as a security threat further marginalizes them. Rohingya activists like Nay San Lwin feel the government’s attitude and media apathy create a hostile environment.
A Plea for Protection and Hope
The Rohingya refugees in India simply seek safety and a chance to live peacefully until the situation in Myanmar improves. They face a future filled with uncertainty, caught between the threat of deportation and a hostile social climate. Their hope lies in legal recourse, a more empathetic media narrative, and most importantly, a change in the Indian government’s approach that recognizes their plight and grants them protection.
On that fateful day, the Chief Minister of Manipur, N Biren Singh – a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – announced on social media that his government had deported the first batch of eight refugees out of a group of 77 individuals who had allegedly “entered India illegally”.
However, the deportation was halted when Myanmar authorities refused to cooperate with India on this matter.
Hamin, a Rohingya refugee who arrived in India in 2018, currently resides in New Delhi, approximately 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) away from Manipur. Despite the distance, the 26-year-old, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business administration in India’s capital, finds himself constantly glued to his television or scrolling through social media platforms on his mobile phone, anxiously searching for any updates regarding the fate of his community members.
This relentless pursuit for information continues even as Hamin observes the dawn-to-dusk fasts during the holy month of Ramadan.
“The news of deportation has sparked widespread panic among many Myanmar nationals living in India, as uncertainty looms over who might be the next to face the threat of violence and persecution,” he expressed.
For countless Rohingya refugees in India, this fear is compounded by a bitter sense of irony. Just three days after the Manipur government initiated its crackdown on Rohingya refugees, Modi’s government announced the implementation of a controversial citizenship law on March 11. This law aims to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighboring countries.
Known as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the legislation offers nationality to six religious minorities – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians – who fled to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan before 2015 due to religious persecution.
However, notably absent from the list of eligible beneficiaries are Muslim communities from these nations, who have also been targets of violence, such as the Ahmadiyya in Pakistan and the Hazara in Afghanistan. Equally excluded are the Rohingya, who hail from another neighboring nation, face persecution, and are predominantly Muslim.
“We too are victims of religious persecution, much like the citizens of the three countries covered by the citizenship law. We are a minority in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. Yet, the Indian government ignores our plight simply because we are Muslims,” lamented a Rohingya rights activist, speaking anonymously to Al Jazeera due to fear of reprisals from authorities.
The Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority from Myanmar, have long been denied citizenship by their home country, rendering them stateless and devoid of basic rights. Residing primarily in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, the Rohingya community has endured violence and oppression in the Buddhist-majority nation for decades.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that nearly 79,000 refugees from Myanmar, including Rohingya, reside in India, with approximately 22,000 registered with the UN refugee agency. Most Rohingya refugees in India possess UNHCR cards acknowledging their status as members of a persecuted community.
Hamin arrived in India in 2018, a year after his family of 11 members settled in the cramped refugee camps of Bangladesh.
“While my family remains in Bangladesh, I came to India to pursue my education and began living with friends who had arrived here before me,” he recounted.
However, like many Rohingya refugees in India, Hamin’s existence in the country is fraught with uncertainty.
India has not ratified the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, which outlines the rights of refugees and the responsibilities of states towards them. Additionally, the South Asian nation lacks legislation specifically protecting refugees.
Critics have condemned the government for excluding persecuted minorities such as the Rohingya from Myanmar or the Ahmadis from Pakistan from the purview of the citizenship law. They argue that this exclusion reflects a double standard aimed at appeasing anti-Muslim sentiments ahead of the upcoming general elections.
During a recent court hearing challenging the deportation of Rohingya, the government asserted to the Supreme Court that the group does not possess a fundamental right to reside in India.
“The Indian government claims that we lack the fundamental right to live in India, despite holding refugee cards issued by the UNHCR,” remarked the anonymous Rohingya activist.
Supreme Court lawyer Colin Gonsalves rebuked the government’s stance, asserting that the right to life extends to all individuals within India’s territory, including refugees fleeing religious persecution. He emphasized that the Indian Constitution safeguards their rights and criticized government officials for making irresponsible statements.
“The Supreme Court has affirmed that protecting the lives of refugees is a constitutional imperative. Refugees are shielded under the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits sending them back to places where they face the risk of physical or sexual violence,” Gonsalves affirmed.
Salai Dokhar, an activist based in New Delhi who leads the “India for Myanmar” campaign, which advocates for refugee rights,expressed concerns that deporting Rohingya could endanger their lives amidst Myanmar’s civil unrest following a military coup in 2021.
“We fear that refugees might be exploited by the Myanmar army as human shields in the ongoing civil war or subjected to mistreatment for leaving the country,” he cautioned. Dokhar suggested that if the Indian government remains intent on deporting Rohingya, they should be handed over to the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), a coalition of opposition parties in Myanmar.
For years, Rohingya refugees in India have also endured a barrage of hate campaigns orchestrated by alleged right-wing Hindu groups on social media. In January, Hamin and fellow Rohingya refugee Muhammad Kawsar, 19, petitioned the Delhi High Court to take action against Facebook for enabling an anti-refugee social media campaign. They urged the court to compel the US-based social media giant to remove hate speech and other harmful content.
“We’ve observed hate campaigns against us on Facebook, yet the company has taken no meaningful action to curb them. Certain posts are temporarily suspended but soon reinstated on social media platforms. Such posts heighten the risk of attacks on our vulnerable community by labeling us as terrorists,” Hamin voiced.
Nay San Lwin, a Germany-based Rohingya activist and co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, a non-profit advocating for Rohingya rights, lamented that the Indian media’s portrayal of Rohingya as potential national security threats has exacerbated their challenges.
“The right-wing Indian government holds a hostile stance towards us, exacerbated by the indifferent attitude of the media,” he remarked.
“We merely seek protection to reside here until the situation stabilizes in our country. Yet, the future appears bleak for us.”
Source Alzajeera