Congress, Rahul should make stand clear on Rohingyas: Shah

Press Trust of India  |  Ahmedabad 

president today demanded that vice president and his party make their stand clear on the issue of Rohingya Muslims.

Addressing a programme organised by Aaj Tak channel, he said leaders and had yesterday written a letter to the prime minister on Rohingya Muslims, favouring their entry into


"I would like to tell and the party to make their stand clear on the issue. The case of Rohingya Muslims is being fought by another senior leader Kapil Sibal," he said.

On being asked whether it was right to blame the entire community due to some radicalised people, Shah said the Centre has considered all the facts and presented its view seriously before the Supreme

"This is not a simple issue. This is not a question of human rights...this is a question of the nation's security. We have suffered in the past, but now we have to keep a strong vigil to stop infiltration from across the borders," Shah said.

"We can provide food to them, we can provide them clothes, medicines in Myanmar, we can give all economic help, but there will be no compromise with the country's security," he added.

Lakhs of Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine state in Myanmar in the aftermath of a military crackdown.

India, in a statement last month, had expressed "deep concern" over developments in Rakhine state and urged that the situation should be handled with "restraint and maturity", focusing on the welfare of the civilian population alongside those of the security forces.

Last month, the Centre had told the Supreme that Rohingya refugees were "illegal" immigrants and some of them were part of a "sinister" design of Pakistan's ISI and terror groups such as the ISIS, whose presence in the country will pose a "serious" national security threat.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had made its stand clear in the affidavit filed in the apex on September 18, in which it also said the fundamental right to settle in any part of the country was available only to Indian citizens and not the Rohingya.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Fri, October 13 2017. 16:13 IST