As many as 150 Bangladeshi nationals who were allegedly staying illegally in different parts of the Valley were shifted to West Bengal as part of their deportation process, officials said.
This development comes after the Union home ministry constituted a high-level committee on demographic change (HLCDC) to identify illegal immigrants living in border areas. Rohingya Muslims are considered among the most persecuted communities in the world. The officials, privy to the development, said that a survey conducted by the administration with the help of the Jammu and Kashmir Police was carried out throughout the Kashmir Valley, during which around 600 Bangladeshi nationals were found allegedly staying illegally in the region. On Monday, a batch of 150 people was flown in a special Indian Air Force plane to Bagdogra, where they were handed over to Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, the officials said. Another batch of 150 Bangladeshis will be deported on October 7, they said. On April 6, 2022, the J&K and Ladakh high court directed the home secretary to identify all illegal immigrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh within six weeks. While community members put the figure of Rohingya refugees at 6,000, the government claims that 13,400 Myanmar and Bangladesh refugees were living in various areas of J&K. 5,700 Rohingyas had settled in and around Jammu, according to an official estimate of the then BJP-PDP government in J&K. A government document stated that 17 FIRs were registered against 38 Rohingyas for offences, including those related to illegal border crossing and drug-trafficking.
“Around 150 people believed to be of Bangladeshi origin were flown out of Srinagar this morning,” the officials said, requesting anonymity. These people were kept in a camp manned by the Srinagar police, from where they are being transported to Bagdogra for a final pushback to their country of origin, they said. On March 3, 2017, the then home minister Rajnath Singh had sought a report from the state over the “unabated influx” of refugees to Jammu. (WITH INPUTS FROM AGENCIES)
