Second group of Rohingya deported from India

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI, India (AA) - India on Thursday deported a second group of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya to their home country from Assam in northeastern India.

The five Rohingya, including two women, had been living in a foreigner detention camp in Sonitpur, Assam since entering India illegally in 2014.

“These five Myanmar nationals were arrested in 2014 for violating the Foreigners Act,” Sonitpur Police Superintendent Prithipal Singh told local ETV.

Last October, India deported seven Rohingya Muslims detained in 2012 to Myanmar after the Union Home Ministry asked state governments to identify and deport illegal immigrants.

The Supreme Court of India had allowed the deportation of the Rohingya, saying they were found by the competent court to be "illegal immigrants" and have been accepted by their country of origin as citizens.

According to media reports, about 20 Rohingya are still being kept in various jails in Assam.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government in 2017 told the Supreme Court that it considers the Rohingya "a security threat."

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, some 750,000 refugees, mostly children and women, fled Myanmar when Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to the UN.