75 Rohingyas have been arrested\, Anti-Citizenship Amendment Bill Protests Have Helped Rohingyas: Himanta

By Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati : With increasing cases of Rohingya infiltration in the state of Assam, Minister of Finance Himanta Biswa Sarma said that he met Rohingyas for the first time in Assam around 22 September, 2009 in Paltan Bazar. Sarma said that as of now 75 Rohingyas have been arrested and the districts where Rohingyas have been identified are important. Further, the Minister also alleged that an organisation named Sahil Education is continuously working on providing employment to the Rohingyas. “Anti-CAB protests have provided an advantageous situation for the refugees”, said Sarma. Speaking on Facebook posts against India, the BJP leader claimed that 15 people have been arrested on this regard and 16 complaints have been registered in 13 districts. The Assam government is not going to accept any refugee card issued to the Rohingya by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and those (Rohingya) entering the State will be dealt with under relevant provisions of law. This was stated by State Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma while talking to media persons here today. Sarma also said that significant Rohingya movement is being witnessed in the State and the law enforcing agencies in the State have been directed to identify and deal with the Rohingya who have entered the State as per the provisions of law. “We have inputs that many Rohingya sympathisers are active in the State,” Sarma said, while naming a couple of organisations that had allegedly collected funds for the Rohingya. “Except the cards issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs,we are not going to accept any card issued by the United Nations. The Indian government does not recognise the card issued by the UNHCR,” said Sarma. Several thousand persecuted Rohingya are currently holding the UNHCR cards in India, majority of them taking shelter in the refugee camps in Jammu and Kashmir. The minister informed that since 2009, as many as 75 illegal Rohingya ‘infiltrators’ have entered the State, of whom nine had been repatriated. The remaining are either in detention camps or in judicial custody. Among the 75 Rohingya arrested, 30 were arrested on January 21 this year.