Convener of the Bharat Raksha Manch Murali Manohar Sharma has written to the Odisha Chief Minister and the Director-General of Police, asking the State Government to identify the Rohingyas settled in different parts of the State and take measures to stop any more illegal immigrants. He stressed that the Marine Police Stations should step up patrolling as many of the Rohingyas come by boat.
Sharma has written that the long coastline of Odisha makes it more vulnerable for these illegal immigrants. Moreover we are already burdened with a sizeable population of illegal Bangladeshis who indulge in illegal activities and crime. The recent spate of communal riots in the State is a direct fall out of these illegal immigrants, he said.
According to Manch national secretary Anil Dhir, there is a sizeable Rohingya population scattered all over the State. The State intelligence should gather data and ensure that a vigil is kept on their activities. Rohingyas settled in Mewat, Haryana, have admitted that they had entered India through Odisha.
The Rohingyas have been trickling into India since the last six years, and have spread all over India, with the concentration being in Bengal, Jammu, Haryana, Mumbai, Hyderabad and many pockets of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Bihar. The recent crackdown upon the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) by the Myanmar Army in the Rakhine State has resulted in more than 5 lakh Rohingya Muslims crossing over to Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi authorities make it convenient for them to cross over to India, in some cases they are pushed into the Indian territory.
Meanwhile, the Indian Government has all along claimed that illegal Rohingya immigrants posed a grave security challenge. They are more vulnerable to getting recruited by terrorist organisations. India had repeatedly warned Myanmar about the possible radicalisation of the Rohingyas by the Pakistan based lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamaat and the Hizbul-Mujahideen.