NEW DELHI, July 25: India is in talks with Bangladesh for deportation of Rohingyas refugees illegally staying in India, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today in the Rajya Sabha.
Singh’s deputy Kiran Rijiju also said that as many as 52 illegal Bangladeshis will be deported on July 30 from Assam.
“There has been discussion with Bangladesh on this issue,” Singh said during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha.
He also said that the External Affairs Ministry, if the need arises, will talk to both Bangladesh and Myanmar so that Rohingyas refugees are deported.
The Home Minister further said the Centre has sent an advisory to State Governments to identify illegal immigrants and take their biometric and ensure that they don’t have any such document to claim Indian citizenship in the future.
“After we get report from states, we will send to the External Affairs Ministry,” he added.
Minister of State for Home Rijiju said that India has already approached Myanmar and Bangladesh on the issue of Rohingyas refugees.
“GoI is impressing on them to take back these people. The process will be as per the discussion we have with a sovereign country. I cannot give assurance here,” he said, responding to a supplementary question.
The Minister said that under the Foreigners Act, the Centre has powers to identify, detect and deport anyone who is staying illegally in India.
Maintaining that Rohingyas have entered India illegally, Rijiju said they are staying in various states.
As per the security agency report, they are staying in Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, western Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Jaipur, he added.
“The Central Government has clearly given direction to states to identify, detech and start the process of deportation of Rohingyas who have entered illegally.”
With regard to deportation of illegal Bangladeshis, Rijiju said, “The Bangladesh government has agreed, identified and accepted the identity of 52 people as Bangladeshis. So, they have agreed these 52 people including one minority will be deported on July 30 at 11 am at Mankachar IPC in Assam.”
To another supplementary on keeping Indians in detention camps with an ulterior motive, the minister said no motive can be attached to anybody kept in detention.
Only those declared as foreigners by tribunal can be kept in detention camps, he said.
“The Government on its own cannot declare anybody as foreigner and put them in a detention camp,” he added. (PTI)
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