After the arrest of two Myanmar refugees at different places in Telangana on the charges of links with illegal immigrants from Bangladesh over the last one week, the issue of Rohingya Muslims in Hyderabad and surrounding areas has come into sharp focus.
Hyderabad Police had arrested one refugee from Myanmar Suhail Parvez Khan along with five others including three Bangladehsi illegal immigrants in Hyderabad on August 14. Two more people including another person from Myanmar Hasham alias Shaikh Ameer was arrested in Zaheerabad on Monday for his links with the illegal immigrations.
All those arrested on the charges of illegal stay in Hyderabad as well as sending many people to Gulf on the basis of false documents were now facing investigations.
In the context of the arrest of the two Myanmarese, an officer from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or UNHCR held an orientation program with the top police officials of Cyberabad, adjoining Hyderabad.
An estimated 1,725 Rohingya refugees, who escaped from ethnic violence and religious repression in Myanmar, were staying at Balapur and other places in Cyberabad limits, adjoining Hyderabad and surviving mostly as daily wager labourers. The orientation program was also attended by Mazhar Hussain, head of an NGO Confederation of Voluntary Association, which represents UNHCR in Hyderabad, Joint Commissioner of Police TV Shashidhar Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Police AR Srinivas and other officers.
The meeting discussed various issues including better coordination with the UNHRC and speeding up the issuing of UNHCR cards to the refugees.
Thousands of Rohingya refugees, who enter India through Bangladesh, were staying in different States across India, including West Bengal. Activists say that that lack of awareness about the rights of those seeking asylum in the country was leading to arrest of these refugees many of whom were now languishing in jails.