India arrests 31 Rohingya Muslims stranded on Bangladesh border

The refugees have been living in India-administered Kashmir and some of them carry identity cards issued by UNHCR. But India's Hindu right-wing government regards them as illegal aliens, and does not recognise the UN refugee agency's cards.

A Rohingya Muslim woman cries as she holds her daughter after they were detained by Indian border soldiers while crossing the India-Bangladesh border from Bangladesh, at Raimura village on the outskirts of Agartala, January 22, 2019.
Reuters

A Rohingya Muslim woman cries as she holds her daughter after they were detained by Indian border soldiers while crossing the India-Bangladesh border from Bangladesh, at Raimura village on the outskirts of Agartala, January 22, 2019.

Indian police on Tuesday arrested 31 Rohingya Muslims stranded on the border after they were denied entry into Bangladesh and border officials failed to agree on what to do with members of the community fleeing a crackdown in India.

India's Hindu right-wing government regards the Rohingya as illegal aliens and a security risk, and has ordered that tens of thousands of them who live in scattered settlements and slums around the country be identified and repatriated.

The stranded Rohingya, including women and children, are stuck in no-man's land on Bangladesh's border with India since Friday.

Two rounds of talks between border officials failed to find a solution.

"We have arrested them under the Foreigners Act on charges of entering India without valid travel documents," said Ajay Kumar Das, a police official in the northeast state of Tripura that borders Bangladesh.

Identity cards by UN

Hundreds of thousands of members of mostly Buddhist Myanmar's Rohingya community have left their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine state over the decades, most fleeing military crackdowns and discrimination.

Many have sought shelter in Bangladesh - where nearly one million live - but others have ended up in India, Southeast Asia and beyond.

The 31 had been living in India-administered Kashmir and some of them carried identity cards issued by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

The UNHCR has issued about 16,500 Rohingya in India with identity cards that it says can help "prevent harassment, arbitrary arrests, detention and deportation." India does not recognise the cards.

India's deportation of seven Rohingya men to Myanmar in October raised fears in the community of a wider crackdown and prompted hundreds of Rohingya families to leave India for Bangladesh.

Another 30 arrested in Assam

Indian police arrested another group of 30 Rohingya on Monday in the northeastern state of Assam, where they had moved after living for six years in India-administered, Kashmir. 

Members of the group said they were looking for work after losing their jobs in Kashmir, police said.

"The arrests were made during a routine check by police and after interrogation we found they are all from Myanmar," said Imon Saikia, a police official in the city of Karimganj where the group was arrested. 

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