Jammu: Police detain 25 Rohingyas belonging to Tablighi Jamaat in Ramban; sent to holding centre

At least 25 Rohingya men, owing allegiance to Tablighi Jamaat, were detained in Ramban district and sent to Hiranagar holding centre on Friday, said officials.

Police said 25 Rohingya were picked up from two mosques in Ramban’s Sangaldan area on March 30 and later sent to a “holding centre” inside a jail at Hiranagar in Jammu’s Kathua district. This triggered panic in the community in the region amid reports that the Centre has deported a refugee from Jammu to Myanmar.

On March 6 last year, 169 illegal immigrant Rohingyas were sent to the holding centre, following which the government had to conduct the process of nationality verification to pave way for their deportation.

In March last year, the J&K administration had started the verification process at MA stadium in the winter capital.

Thousands of Rohingya refugees have been staying in Jammu for several years to avoid persecution in their homeland in Myanmar.

On March 3, 2017, the then Home Minister Rajnath Singh had sought a report from the state over unabated influx of refugees to Jammu. On March 25, 2017, the then Jammu district commissioner Simrandeep Singh had recovered fake state subject certificates, voter ID cards, Aadhaar cards and ration cards from the temporary shelters of Rohingya Muslims in Jammu.