SRINAGAR: At least 155 Rohingyas living in Jammu were on Saturday sent to a ‘holding centre’, under section 3(2)e of the Foreigners Act. The immigrants were not holding valid travel documents required under section (3) of the Passports Act, CNN-News18 quoted officials as having said.

Rohingyas refugees outside their settlement camp in Jammu on Friday, March 6, 2021. KL Image by Pallavi Sareen

Quoting officials CNN-News18 reported that the exercise of identifying more such immigrants is ongoing and the Jammu and Kashmir administration is collecting biometric and other details of Rohingyas staying in Jammu.

After sending them to the said centre, their nationality verification will be carried out, after which illegal immigrants will be deported, officials said.

The Rohingyas are a Bengali-dialect speaking Muslim minority in Myanmar. Following persecution in their country, many of them entered India illegally through Bangladesh and took shelter in Jammu and other parts of India.

The verification process of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar was carried out at the MAM Stadium Jammu amid high security, officials said. Under the drive, their biometric and other details, such as place of stay, were collected, they added, according to the report.

Rohingyas refugees settlement camp in Jammu. KL Image by Pallavi Sareen

“We filled up forms after conducting COVID-19 test. Our fingerprints were taken,” CNN-News18 quoted Abdul Hanan, a Myanmar national as saying. He said after the screening process he left the stadium.

More than 13,700 foreigners, including Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshi nationals, are settled in Jammu and Samba districts, reported CNN-News18.

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