Police conduct meeting with Rohingyas after Centre’s alert

HYDERABAD: Taking cognisance of the alert by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the possibility of some Rohingya refugees having attended Tablighi Jamat Ijtema at Mewat, Haryana, and later the Markaz at Nizamuddin in Delhi, officials of the Telangana police along with a few doctors held a meeting with 30 Rohingya community leaders on Saturday.

When contacted, senior police officials said they would conduct a survey again to identify such persons among the Rohingya refugees, if required. They said even before the MHA issued the alert, the Telangana police had already identified such persons from the community and kept them in isolation at Gandhi Hospital and other centres. According to the Rohingya refugees who attended the meeting on Saturday, the doctors asked them whether anyone among them was sick, collected information regarding senior citizens in the community and asked them to be safe.

“Police took our contact details and asked us to be in touch,” said Shamsu, one of the Rohingya leaders who attended the meeting, which was held at a wedding hall at Balapur and lasted for about 15 minutes.
Shamsu said there has been constant vigil in the area for the last three weeks. He said earlier, four people who had gone to Delhi were sent to the Gandhi Hospital. “Tests were conducted and the results came out negative. They spent 14 days in quarantine and now they are back,” he added.

The same was confirmed by an NGO member, who works with the Rohingyas at Balapur. He said extensive screenings were conducted by the police in the last two weeks. The official said, “Rohingyas have been asked to inform the administration before travelling to a different State.” Meanwhile, a city police official told Express that from his area, two Rohingyas had attended the Markaz, but had not returned from Delhi.