New Delhi - India began the process of deporting seven Rohingya
men to Myanmar on Wednesday, even as a UN human rights expert said
their forcible return was alarming and could be a violation of
international law.
"The seven Myanmarese nationals were caught in 2012 and were kept in
detention after serving their sentences. The process of repatriating
them to Myanmar has been initiated," said Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, a
senior police official in India's north-eastern Assam state.
The seven men were being taken by bus from the jail in Assam's
Silchar town to the border between India and Myanmar at Moreh in
Manipur state.
"The Indian and Myanmar governments have worked out the details and
the handing over process should take place Thursday," Mahanta said.
The men hail from Kyauk Daw township in Myanmar's Rakhine state,
where Myanmar launched a brutal military crackdown in August 2017 in
response to insurgent attacks on security posts.
More than 700,000 Rohingya have since fled Myanmar, and a UN
fact-finding mission found the military campaign of rape, torture,
killings, and arson showed "genocidal intent."
The men have been held at the Silchar prison in the Cachar district
of Assam since 2012 on charges of irregular entry, a release from the
office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights said.
"Given the ethnic identity of the men, this is a flagrant denial of
their right to protection and could amount to refoulement," UN
Special Rapporteur on Racism Tendayi Achiume was quoted as saying.
"These deportations are routine," Mahanta said. "We deported 52
Bangladeshis, two Myanmarese nationals and a Pakistani who had
illegally entered India over the past 10 months."
More than 40,000 Rohingya Muslims live in India. India's Home
Ministry has asked states to identify illegal Rohingya immigrants for
deportation. The Supreme Court is hearing a public interest
litigation against the government's decision.