Assam CM confirms Rohingya refugees from Indian detention centre were ‘pushed back’ to Bangladesh
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday confirmed that the state government is now pushing back Rohingya refugees, among other “illegal infiltrators” into Bangladesh, instead of filing legal cases against them, The Assam Tribune reported.
Sarma said that the approach earlier was to arrest such persons and bring them under the Indian legal system. They would be detained, produced before a court and held in jails, he added.
“We have now decided we will not bring them inside the country,” the BJP leader said. “We will push them back. Pushing them back is a new phenomenon.”
The BJP leader’s statement comes days after Bangladesh’s border force detained at least 123 persons whom it alleged India had pushed into the country without documents on Wednesday.
Among those detained were Rohingyas and Bengali-speaking persons. They were in the custody of the Border Guard Bangladesh and their identities were being verified, The Daily Star had quoted Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui, the director general of the paramilitary force, as saying.
Border Guards Bangladesh is the paramilitary force responsible for the country’s border security.
“Infiltration is a big issue,” The Telegraph quoted the Bharatiya Janata Party leader as telling reporters after a state Cabinet meeting. “We have now decided that we will not go through the legal process.”
Calling such pushback a “new innovation”, Sarma added: “That is why you...
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