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Friday, March 29, 2024

Over 10,000 people sought refuge in India in 2022, reveals report

This was revealed in the report, "India: The Status of Refugees 2022", released by the Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) on February 21.

GUWAHATI:

Over 10,000 persons sought refuge in India while at least 203 asylum seekers were arrested across the country as Mizoram became the epicentre of refugee influx in 2022.

This was revealed in the report, “India: The Status of Refugees 2022”, released by the Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) on February 21.

“By the end of 2022, India had about 4,05,000 refugees, that is, 2,13,578 refugees recognized/registered by the Indian government and housed in various camps/settlements. About 31,313 refugees belonging to minority communities from neighbouring countries who had been given Long Term Visas based on their claims of religious persecution and about 1,60,085 unregistered refugees,” the report said.

As India’s refugee policy is mainly to detain and deport, and refugees are forced to operate clandestinely and surreptitiously, the actual number of refugee populations in the country is undoubtedly higher than the reported number of refugees, the report also said.

The refugee annual report stated that Mizoram was the epicentre of the refugee influx in 2022 receiving refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh. In 2022, instability in Myanmar and attacks on religious minorities in Afghanistan and Bangladesh caused the influx of over 10,000 refugees to India. These include over 9,000 refugees who entered Mizoram from Myanmar (8,149 refugees by February 2022 and 589 on 31 August 2022 and 300 Chin-Kuki refugees entered from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh), about 85 Burmese refugees who entered Manipur and about 100 Sikh and Hindu refugees airlifted from Afghanistan.

“Ethnic or religious affiliation determined the treatment of the refugees. While the Sikh and Hindu refugees from Afghanistan were airlifted, India followed the ‘detain and deport policy’ concerning the Rohingya refugees. On August 17, 2022, Union minister for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri promised allotment of flats and security in Bakkarwala area in West Delhi to members of the Muslim minority,” the report said.

“However, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) quickly stated that Rohingyas would be held at a detention centre and then be deported. Similarly, Mizoram decided to provide humanitarian assistance to the Chin refugees from Myanmar and Kuki-Chin refugees from Bangladesh in defiance of the directions of the Indian government as the refugees have the same ethnic roots as the Mizos,” it said.

“In Manipur too, indigenous communities assisted refugees fleeing from Sagaing and Chin state of Myanmar despite the crackdown by the Manipur police,” said Suhas Chakma, director of RRAG.

“In 2022, at least 203 refugees i.e. 118 Rohingya refugees, 85 Kuki-Chin refugees in Manipur and 20 Myanmar refugees in Mizoram were arrested on various charges ranging from illegal entry into India to arms smuggling. In 2022, two Rohingya refugees i.e. Haseena Begum and Jafar Alam were deported to Myanmar. India even prevented third country immigration of the Rohingya refugees,” Chakma said.

In September 2022, Senoara Begum, recognised as a refugee from Myanmar by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in New Delhi, sought an exit permit to reunite with her husband following the issuance of visas by the United States. India denied the exit permit on the grounds of no verification of the nationality of Begum and her children by the Embassy of Myanmar and its policy of deporting illegal foreigners to their country of origin and not granting exit to illegal migrants to a third country given the bearing it can have upon similarly placed cases.

“India’s ‘detain and deport’ policy forced refugees to operate clandestinely and surreptitiously making asylum seekers easy targets of various criminal syndicates. In March 2022, two Rohingya girls were rescued from Guwahati railway station in Assam and six persons were arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for trafficking and helping Rohingyas illegally enter India. The rackets were active in the border areas of Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya and other parts of the country,” Chakma added.

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