“Put me in jail or cut my throat, but I will not go back to Burma,” said a distressed Muhammad Salimullah, 32, seated in his slapdash grocery shop beside a massive dumpyard on the banks of the Yamuna.

His is among the 50-odd families belonging to the Rohingya community, residing here for six-eight years, some for more than a decade, even. Salimullah came to India in 2005 with his family of nine members through Bangladesh, fleeing persecution and torture at the hands of Myanmarese forces.

Despite the odds that poverty and a refugee life presented, Salimullah had been gamely pulling through.

But all hell broke lose when the Centre decided to deport Rohingyas back to Myanmar, based on a notice issued by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The NHRC, in its August 18 notice, asked the Centre to expel Rohingyas from India.

Rohingyas are a Muslim ethnic minority from Myanmar, who have been facing persecution there for almost four decades now. In India, Rohingya refugees are settled in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Haryana and Telangana.

Petition filed Salimullah, along with Mohammad Shaqir, has now filed a petition seeking assurance from the Centre that they will not be deported to Myanmar. The petition, filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan on their behalf, has been deferred by the Supreme Court for hearing on September 18.

“We have a strong case and I think the court will enforce the law. India has always allowed refugees as it is a party to the four international conventions that allow it to take in refugees and this was reiterated by the government as recently as 2015.

“Only because these people are Muslims are we seeing this discrimination,” Bhushan told BusinessLine.

The principle of non-refoulement — or not forcing refugees to return to a country where they face danger — is considered part of customary international law and therefore binding on all states, whether they have signed the Refugee Convention or not, as per UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) stipulations.

International pacts India is a party to major international human rights instruments such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and Convention on the Rights of the Child. Around 40,000 Rohingyas are now living in India, of whom some 16,500 are registered with UNHCR India.

For Salimullah and many like him, India is home. Residing in a decrepit ghetto, their only demand is that those Rohingyas who are registered with the UNHCR not be deported.

Noor Fathima, 27, a mother of three, moved here from Jalalabad, UP. She has been living in India for almost 14 years now.

“India is my country, New Delhi is my home. My family is here, my children are going to schools here. Where can we go? I haven’t got any notice from the government yet and I think they will not do this injustice to us.

“But if they force us, I will ask them to cut my body into two and throw me into the Yamuna, rather than sending me to Burma,” said a teary-eyed Fathima, even as her children played around merrily.

The UNHCR issues ID cards to registered refugees and documents to asylum-seekers, which help prevent arbitrary arrests, detention and deportation.

The government also issues ‘long-term visas’ to refugees, which eases their access to public services, bank accounts and employment in the private sector.

In principle, all refugees in India have access to government health and education services but sometimes there are practical problems.

Instances of harassment “The UNHCR has not received any official communication from the government regarding any changes to its approach on refugees and there are no reported instances of deportations of UNHCR-registered Rohingyas from India,” said a UNHCR official who refused to be named.

“However, some refugees have reported instances of harassment, which were addressed through the intervention of our NGO partners with the support of local authorities.”

On Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein slammed both Yangon and New Delhi for carrying out what he called a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

Security challenges Refuting his claims, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Rajiv K Chander, said: “Like many other nations, India is concerned about illegal migrants; in particular, with the possibility that they could pose security challenges. Enforcing the laws should not be mistaken for lack of compassion.”

Naved Khan of Zakat Foundation of India, which has been overseeing the welfare of Rohingya refugees in India, believes it will be unjust to have them evicted.

They have made India their home, and many of their children have been born here, making it their homeland, he pointed out.

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