India to offer shelter to Rohingyas in Delhi
BI Report || BusinessInsider
Hardeep Singh Puri
Taking a U-turn from its previous stance on Rohingya issue, India has decided to offer shelter to the Muslim refugees who poured into this country in the wake of ethnic violence in neighbouring Myanmar.
Indian Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri informed the government's decision in a Twitter message on Wednesday.
“India has always welcomed those who have sought refuge in the country,” he wrote.
India has always welcomed those who have sought refuge in the country. In a landmark decision all #Rohingya #Refugees will be shifted to EWS flats in Bakkarwala area of Delhi. They will be provided basic amenities, UNHCR IDs & round-the-clock
According to the United Nations, around 40,000 Rohingyas are currently in India, most of them having fled Myanmar in 2017 when a military crackdown began against them in the country.
India has always welcomed those who have sought refuge in the country. In a landmark decision all #Rohingya #Refugees will be shifted to EWS flats in Bakkarwala area of Delhi. They will be provided basic amenities, UNHCR IDs & round-the-clock @DelhiPolice protection. @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/E5ShkHOxqE
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) August 17, 2022
In absence of a clear refugee policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist BJP government has for long termed the Rohingya refugees as “illegal immigrants” and a “threat to national security.”
India had earlier given shelter to Tibetan refugees and Tamil refugees from the neighbouring island nation of Sri Lanka, despite not being a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.
