Under pressure from different quarters to gather details of exact number of Rohingyas — illegal immigrants from Myanmar — settled in and around different pockets of Jammu, the Jammu & Kashmir police has initiated special drive to collect their personal details in a proper format.
The drive was launched on the directions of the Central Government to gather 'biometrics' of Rohingyas ahead of their deportation to their native country. According to the State Home Department record, "a total number of 6523 Rohingyas are settled across 39 different locations across five districts of Jammu region".
Most of these settlements are located close to the vital security installations in and around Jammu.
While collecting personal details of these Rohingyas the State policemen are facing lot of resistance from these immigrants on ground zero.
"Majority of Rohingyas are not willing to come forward to share their personal details. We are coming here for last two three days to convince them to share their personal details in a proper format but they are reluctant to do so" a senior police officer supervising the special drive told The Pioneer at one such location in Narwal Bala area of Bhatindi on Tuesday.
Sharing details of the special drive the police officer said, "we are gathering personal details of each and every family and their back ground".
"A comprehensive form is prepared to gather these details. We are also collecting pictures of each individual with the form for our records".
When asked about the purpose behind the special drive the police officer refused to comment.
"I cannot comment on the objective. I have been assigned this duty to gather their details and i am on the job along with my team of officers", he told The Pioneer.
Meanwhile, madarasa teachers camping in the same area told The Pioneer, "for last two three days these policemen are troubling us. They are even threatening us to beat if we refused to share our details".
Mohd Rafiq, a madarasa teacher told The Pioneer, " if the purpose of collecting these details is to send us packing back home we want to make it clear we are not ready to go home under the prevailing circumstances".
"The situation in our native country (Myanmar) is still not conducive for our safe return. We do not want to return till normalcy is restored and we are assured safe return with dignity", he added.