The Rohingya Menace

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 06 Oct 2017 00:21

Parthasarathy is giving a bad prescription for India. What happens with Rohingyas between Bdesh and Myanmar is none of India's business. Like Assam they are mostly from the region that is now Bdesh brought in by the British. Asking or forcing Myanmar to take them back from Bdesh is only going to anger Myanmar as they clearly do not want the Rohingyas and complicate repatriation of Rohingyas from India which is numerically much smaller. India should only be concerned about the Rohingyas in India and their deportation.

periaswamy · Post by **periaswamy** » 06 Oct 2017 00:28

Don't see anything totally horrible with GP's prescription. Throwing the 40,000 out of India is India's problem, providing the courts do not exceed their jurisdiction like they have been doing a lot lately -- if they a security issue, the judiciary should STFU and stick to interpreting the legal framework and not be concerned about the details of the how the 40,000 are to be pushed out.

Also, dont see why "working with Myanmar" does not mean forcing Myanmar, but rather working with BD and Myanmar to ensure that the Rohingyas do not become India's problem..India would have to be engaged with the two to ensure that.

Going by their past, the Rohingyas seem to have a craving to be part of Pakistan, and now they have their wish fulfilled by being part of Ex-east pakistan. Sooner or later, the jihadis in Bangladesh (egged on by the pakis) are going to act up and cause spillover terrorism in Myanmar and possibly India. At that time, All three nations can act together, but only if relations are not allowed to deteriorate before then.

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 06 Oct 2017 00:52

Making it tri-lateral and developing Rakhine to help Rohingyas are none of India's business. The problem is between Myanmar and Bdesh. India is simply a victim of spill over. Asking Myanmar to take back the Rohingyas from Bdesh which they don't want to do will make it more difficult to repatriate Rohingyas from India. Keep it bi-lateral and simple if you really want to deport them. What GP is suggesting will only make Myanmar more intransigent.

periaswamy · Post by **periaswamy** » 06 Oct 2017 00:56

Making it tri-lateral and developing Rakhine to help Rohingyas are none of India's business.

Controlling the direction of events requires India to remain engaged with BD and Myanmar -- staying out would result in lack of leverage over either of them. Myanmar has said it will pick and choose who it will allow in their territory, or whatever it negotiates. Myanmar's intransigence only hurts BD at this point, which makes it a BD-Myanmar problem -- India's aim has to be to ensure that none of it becomes India's problem. India needs both BD and Myanmar cooperation to keep the NE secure, so better to engage both of them, so that neither thinks India is taking sides, if things go downhill for BD-Myanmar relations.

For example (just an example, not saying this should be done), India could leverage aadhar type technology to collect biometric info from all Rohingya refugees and share them with Myanmar alone, if they want to keep track of who is coming back to their territory. Staying out of any set of events where India can get affected down the line also means losing any say on the future direction of events.

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 06 Oct 2017 01:34

I don't think you have followed the issue very closely. Rohingyas have not been given rights since independence and do not have Myanmarese citizenship. They don't believe they are from Burma. They are trying to expel them from Myanmar. The method is to shake the can once in a while so that some crabs leave. It is similar to what Muslims in Bdesh use to make sure Hindus leave. The repatriation is under international pressure. India should not try to get its nose into it by making it tri-lateral and helping Rohingyas in Myanmar as GP wants. For India 45000 is a small problem. Just talk to Myanmar and get them repatriated. There are bigger problems to handle like 25 million illegal Bdeshi illegals.

periaswamy · Post by **periaswamy** » 06 Oct 2017 01:56

I am fully aware of the history of the Rohingyas and what is going on there, and my statements were made in that context.

To break it down: we have (a) myanmar junta unwilling to accept Rohingyas (b) BD govt. that can turn hostile in the next election is a Khaleda Zia clone comes to power (c) a currently friendly govt. that is in charge and that needs to be provided support (d) a friendly junta in Myanmar that needs remain friendly

India's goal: To keep out Rohingyas out of Indian territory while not losing control of influence in BD and Myanmar

If BD govt. turns paki down the line, and there is a distinct possiblilty of that, you can be assured that they will have no compunctions about making the Rohingyas an Indian problem. If the future were to remain forever as it is today, then this is not an issue, but prudence requires we take into account any set of events that can make India lose leverage and goodwill in either BD or Myanmar. Myanmar is going to remain under control of the Junta for the near to medium future, but Bangladesh jihadi political forces are still strong, and if BNP comes to power, it will be difficult for India to insert itself into the Rohingya issue at that point...easier to do it now.

periaswamy · Post by **periaswamy** » 06 Oct 2017 01:58

The 25 million BD illegals are not going to be kicked out of India any time soon...if India cannot control the border, and keep illegal immigrants out, the game is over. Once people enter India, they can just vanish off the grid...mostly because the grid is very rudimentary as it stands. Services like Aadhar can strengthen it, if it is not politically sabotaged by a bunch of traitors like those in the INC.

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 06 Oct 2017 12:47

IMO Rohingya issue is bilateral problem between Bdesh and Myanmar. India should not get deeply involved.

Karthik S · Post by **Karthik S** » 06 Oct 2017 12:59

periaswamy wrote:If BD govt. turns paki down the line, and there is a distinct possiblilty of that, you can be assured that they will have no compunctions about making the Rohingyas an Indian problem.

Then they can expect "surgery" of their country and not just surgical strike.

periaswamy · Post by **periaswamy** » 06 Oct 2017 17:42

Then they can expect "surgery" of their country and not just surgical strike.

Targets are not all that obvious in BD like they are at the LoC, AFAICT.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 06 Oct 2017 18:02

periaswamy wrote:The 25 million BD illegals are not going to be kicked out of India any time soon...if India cannot control the border, and keep illegal immigrants out, the game is over. Once people enter India, they can just vanish off the grid...mostly because the grid is very rudimentary as it stands. Services like Aadhar can strengthen it, if it is not politically sabotaged by a bunch of traitors like those in the INC.

aadhar has enrolled everyone, including beedis, pakis, afghans, nepalis and rohingyas. The Govt seems clueless as to how exactly they are going to untangle this gordian knot.

They say that it is not proof of nationality but it is now pretty much deeply integrated into the PDS, banking, IT, telecom, RTO and educational systems.

What more proof of "nationality" is needed?? Soon, even the even the handcart pushers selling veggies will demand proof of aadhar for the purchase of tomatoes and onions.

periaswamy · Post by **periaswamy** » 06 Oct 2017 18:11

They say that it is not proof of nationality but it is now pretty much deeply integrated into the PDS, banking, IT, telecom, RTO and educational systems.

Aadhar is just an identification scheme -- it does not advertise itself to be anything else. It is only supposed to be one of many factors of authentication. It solves an age old problem of providing an identity to people who had no access to bank accounts etc., because identities of people were easily stolen in India, and Aadhar prevents it. I think that has been proven conclusively when used in PDS schemes. All the rohingyas could be in a "myanmar" database separate from the Indian database, for example. For a change, some decent scheme is supported across govts. and Indians seem to want to destroy it, the spirit of Bhashmasura lives on apparently.

My point is that Rohingyas could be added to a illegal immigrant refugee database now, and that can be used as a long-term way to keep track of those in India, at least in theory.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 06 Oct 2017 18:34

periaswamy wrote:
They say that it is not proof of nationality but it is now pretty much deeply integrated into the PDS, banking, IT, telecom, RTO and educational systems.
Aadhar is just an identification scheme -- it does not advertise itself to be anything else. It is only supposed to be one of many factors of authentication. It solves an age old problem of providing an identity to people who had no access to bank accounts etc., because identities of people were easily stolen in India, and Aadhar prevents it. I think that has been proven conclusively when used in PDS schemes. All the rohingyas could be in a "myanmar" database separate from the Indian database, for example. For a change, some decent scheme is supported across govts. and Indians seem to want to destroy it, the spirit of Bhashmasura lives on apparently.

My point is that Rohingyas could be added to a illegal immigrant refugee database now, and that can be used as a long-term way to keep track of those in India, at least in theory.

forget theory.

look at the piss poor practice where foreigner rohingiyas have managed fraudulently to obtain ration cards, voter ID cards, aadhar cards, telephone connections, gas connections whatnot. everything that an Indian citizen has by right.

we are not seeking to destroy aadhar as a system but have every right to question its efficacy and the poor implementation of its avowed intent.

periaswamy · Post by **periaswamy** » 06 Oct 2017 19:08

we are not seeking to destroy aadhar as a system but have every right to question its efficacy and the poor implementation of its avowed intent.

That's all fine of course. But there are elements in India working overtime and making up nonsense about why Aadhar is a threat to the Indian citizen's "privacy", and these jokers write their essays on Facebook, which has probably recorded what they ate for breakfast, and who their grandfather is. Was referring to that. Best we can expect that the system get better over time. Clearly, there are elements in the J&K state govt. that are actively working to change the demography of Jammu, and they need to be taken out of the system with prejudice. That is about the only thing to do in this case.

Once these Rohingyas are kept track of in a refugee database, then it is easier to track them if they are up to any jihadi mischief down the line. That's about it.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 06 Oct 2017 19:20

periaswamy wrote:
we are not seeking to destroy aadhar as a system but have every right to question its efficacy and the poor implementation of its avowed intent.
That's all fine of course. But there are elements in India working overtime and making up nonsense about why Aadhar is a threat to the Indian citizen's "privacy", and these jokers write their essays on Facebook, which has probably recorded what they ate for breakfast, and who their grandfather is. Was referring to that. Best we can expect that the system get better over time. Clearly, there are elements in the J&K state govt. that are actively working to change the demography of Jammu, and they need to be taken out of the system with prejudice. That is about the only thing to do in this case.

Once these Rohingyas are kept track of in a refugee database, then it is easier to track them if they are up to any jihadi mischief down the line. That's about it.

you can't tell rohingiya from the beedi. Many have already merged into the Indian populace, probably claiming to be bengalis whatever.

More will quietly slip away to do the same.

all these guys probably have Indian IDs by now, generated in two/three different places over time.

periaswamy · Post by **periaswamy** » 06 Oct 2017 19:26

Chetak: you can't tell rohingiya from the beedi. Many have already merged into the Indian populace, probably claiming to be bengalis whatever.

Of course, given our police to citizen ratio is something like 1:100000 or something of that order, there is no realistic way to comb the entire Indian populace, and IMO that is overkill. However, there is nothing to stop the govt. from removing them out of Jammu, where they can alter the political clout of the pro-pakistan crowd in J&K if they are allowed to settle there, and that would be a good first step, not least because they will stick out among the populace given the financial status and their language divide.

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 06 Oct 2017 21:41

Chetak,

It is good if illegals get Adhaar. It is just an identification document. Unidentified illegals are more dangerous than identified ones. When you update the NRC you will just match that database with Adhaar and delete their names permanently from records. You can prepare another database with these deleted names to make sure they don't come back. Illegal menace is primarily in WB and AS. AS has not issued Adhaar. Once the NRC is updated in AS Adhaars will be issued and matched with NRC database. Similar thing is likely to be done in WB in future. There will still be 2-3 million illegals fromBdesh in rest of country but we can slowly weed them out in future when NRC database is taken to rest of country. The other advantage with illegals having Adhaar is that crime and terrorism can be monitored.

Karthik S · Post by **Karthik S** » 06 Oct 2017 21:44

periaswamy wrote:
Then they can expect "surgery" of their country and not just surgical strike.
Targets are not all that obvious in BD like they are at the LoC, AFAICT.

That's why I said surgery, not surgical strike.

bharotshontan · Post by **bharotshontan** » 06 Oct 2017 22:36

Imho Britain should be the country to provide asylum to Rohingya. When other populations of Indian subcontinent origins made their way via Raj to other British domains around the world in large enough numbers to alter demographics (e.g. Fiji, Trinidad, Guyana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mauritius, etc) and whenever there has been blowback on these populations post independence, many of them have fled to Britain instead of returning to India. Since the precedent is there, Britain should absorb the Rohingya.

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 07 Oct 2017 07:19

https://www.oneindia.com/india/how-indi ... 58203.html

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 07 Oct 2017 10:14

Supratik wrote:Chetak,

It is good if illegals get Adhaar. It is just an identification document. Unidentified illegals are more dangerous than identified ones. When you update the NRC you will just match that database with Adhaar and delete their names permanently from records. You can prepare another database with these deleted names to make sure they don't come back. Illegal menace is primarily in WB and AS. AS has not issued Adhaar. Once the NRC is updated in AS Adhaars will be issued and matched with NRC database. Similar thing is likely to be done in WB in future. There will still be 2-3 million illegals fromBdesh in rest of country but we can slowly weed them out in future when NRC database is taken to rest of country. The other advantage with illegals having Adhaar is that crime and terrorism can be monitored.

how does one know who is legal and who is not??

what is the test for it??

the aadhar guys accepted what ever rubbish documentation was provided to them as per laid down norms. many "sympathetic" aadhar center guys enrolled illegals knowingly under political or religious or even ideological compulsions and they continue to do so even today.

aadhar today is simply a carte blanche entry into the inner system of the Indian state and its myriad services. Bank passbooks are now being accepted as proof of residence, and these accounts are opened on the basis of aadhar. where does it end??

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 07 Oct 2017 10:20

periaswamy wrote:
Chetak: you can't tell rohingiya from the beedi. Many have already merged into the Indian populace, probably claiming to be bengalis whatever.
Of course, given our police to citizen ratio is something like 1:100000 or something of that order, there is no realistic way to comb the entire Indian populace, and IMO that is overkill. However, there is nothing to stop the govt. from removing them out of Jammu, where they can alter the political clout of the pro-pakistan crowd in J&K if they are allowed to settle there, and that would be a good first step, not least because they will stick out among the populace given the financial status and their language divide.

you can't argue both ways.

You can identify these guys in J&K but not in the rest of the country because they merge easily. migration of labor from distressed states of the NE etc has led to vast numbers of bengali speaking folks settling and working in almost all parts of the country and that is where the beedis and the rohingiyas have the advantage.

By the time the dinosaur brained Indian state reacts, these guys have moved quickly once again and merged quietly elsewhere.

Primus · Post by **Primus** » 07 Oct 2017 18:03

Interesting article by Mohsin Habib, a Bangladeshi journalist known for speaking out against Islamic oppression of minorities in BD.

Islamists responsible for Rohingya Refugee Crisis

"The current crisis is being depicted -- wrongly -- as the "ethnic cleansing" of an innocent Muslim minority by Burma's security forces, and the "apathy" to the plight of the Rohingyas by Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's foreign minister and its de facto head of state.

Rather than placing all blame on the Burmese government for this critical situation, the concerned international community and human rights groups must recognize the real threat. Only then can Kyi begin to implement the recommendations spelled out in the plan for a "peaceful, fair and prosperous future for the people of Rakhine" -- which she herself commissioned."

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 07 Oct 2017 18:19

BD is collecting all Ros and relocating them into one vast camp close to the Burmese border.We should do the same said before ad nauseam.

Karthik S · Post by **Karthik S** » 07 Oct 2017 18:27

I don't think SC will mind if RMs are collected and placed in a camp near Myanmar border. Their only problem is deportation, I don't think SC will ask govt to provide them jobs etc. This way we can have better control over RMs' movements.

periaswamy · Post by **periaswamy** » 07 Oct 2017 19:44

chetak: you can't argue both ways.

I am not "arguing" -- just pointing out that India does not have the manpower to comb the populace all over. So only a best-effort approach that is geographically localized (and higher priority because of special status of J&K) is workable.

You can identify these guys in J&K but not in the rest of the country because they merge easily. migration of labor from distressed states of the NE etc has led to vast numbers of bengali speaking folks settling and working in almost all parts of the country and that is where the beedis and the rohingiyas have the advantage.

Checking for rohingyas is not scalable because of the lack of manpower to implement any such search...we can all wish such a thing were possible but until Indian police forces are larger in number and better trained, it does not make a difference to implementing such wishes.

These jihadis are a higher risk in a paki-infested place like J&K, so let's get them out of there first.

periaswamy · Post by **periaswamy** » 07 Oct 2017 19:47

chetak: the aadhar guys accepted what ever rubbish documentation was provided to them as per laid down norms. many "sympathetic" aadhar center guys enrolled illegals knowingly under political or religious or even ideological compulsions and they continue to do so even today.

Making this a criminal offence and throwing a few off these aadhar guys in prison is a good way to deter govt. officials from breaking the laws of the country. But then the police force needs to stop wasting time on unenforceable laws and political interference to be able to actually take independent action against law breakers. There is never just one problem to be solved,sadly.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 08 Oct 2017 14:48

periaswamy wrote:
chetak: the aadhar guys accepted what ever rubbish documentation was provided to them as per laid down norms. many "sympathetic" aadhar center guys enrolled illegals knowingly under political or religious or even ideological compulsions and they continue to do so even today.
Making this a criminal offence and throwing a few off these aadhar guys in prison is a good way to deter govt. officials from breaking the laws of the country. But then the police force needs to stop wasting time on unenforceable laws and political interference to be able to actually take independent action against law breakers. There is never just one problem to be solved,sadly.

have you ever cared to notice that some specific services like transportation, (auto, taxi, buses local/interstate, trucks, ticket sales and reservation services) telecom (cell phone sales, repair, telecom service outlets, public, local and ISD telecom services, internet services/shops) money changing services, small time real estate brokers and lately aadhar service centers are mostly owned/operated by certain communities??

Surely this cannot be a mere coincidence, no??

periaswamy · Post by **periaswamy** » 08 Oct 2017 20:06

Surely this cannot be a mere coincidence, no??

So how exactly do you suggest this be fixed short of implementing and enforcing rules where such scammers can be caught and prosecuted?

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 08 Oct 2017 20:54

NRC update is a more authentic document to prove citizenship and is being used in AS to detect illegals. To have your name in NRC you have to prove using documents your lineage as a citizen over a time period e.g. in case of AS from I believe 25th March, 1971. Voter cards, pan cards, Adhaar cards are not considered proof of citizenship.

periaswamy · Post by **periaswamy** » 08 Oct 2017 20:57

Supratik: Adhaar cards are not considered proof of citizenship.

Exactly. So if an illegal immigrant or foreigner acquires aadhar, and manages to acquire say a "voter card", then the fault lies in the process of issuing voter cards, which must require additional proof outside of Aadhar. Illegal immigrants who get a voter card points to someone breaking the law in the voter registration office. Blaming aadhar for it seems pretty silly.

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 08 Oct 2017 21:02

It is obtained through bribes. Some political parties also arrange for it to increase vote bank.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 09 Oct 2017 11:46

periaswamy wrote:
Surely this cannot be a mere coincidence, no??
So how exactly do you suggest this be fixed short of implementing and enforcing rules where such scammers can be caught and prosecuted?

the security implications are there for all to see, including the powers that be.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 09 Oct 2017 14:56

China reinforces mediation call as Rohingya crisis spirals - Atul Aneja, The Hindu

Without alienating Bangladesh, China is backing Myanmar, setting the stage of mediation between the two countries to resolve the Rohingya humanitarian and refugee crisis.

On September 28, China flew 2,000 tents and 3,000 blankets as part of a 150-tonnes relief package for Rohingya refugees, fleeing the violence in Myanmar.

The Chinese stressed that they had flown in the supplies purely on humanitarian considerations to help Bangladesh shoulder the burden of the sudden refugee surge. Politically, Beijing empathised with Myanmar, which had become a target of harsh criticism from the West on the familiar grounds of violating human rights and engaging in “ethnic cleansing.”

“The Chinese side is highly concerned about the difficulty facing Bangladesh in resettling the displaced people in the Myanmar-Bangladesh border area. In order to help the government of Bangladesh with the resettlement efforts, the Chinese government has decided to provide emergency humanitarian supplies to the government of Bangladesh,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang during a September 30 media briefing.

However, Beijing also ensured that Myanmar avoided harsh international sanctions, which the United Nations could impose. During the first debate in the UN Security Council on September 28, the Chinese side defended Myanmar, highlighting the context of the humanitarian crisis.

Myanmar’s Rakhine State is at the heart of the Rohingya crisis. On August 25, the Arakan Rohingya Salivation Army (ARSA), operating in the State, attacked 30 police posts, killing 84, with 54 going missing. The massive retaliation by the Myanmar armed forces triggered an exodus of 4,00,000 people, seeking sanctuaries in the Chittagong hill tracts of neighbouring Bangladesh.

Strategically vital

Rakhine is strategically vital for both China and India. The website The Irrawaddy from Myanmar has reported that Beijing has been pushing for preferential access to the deep seaport of Kyaukphyu — part of its ambitious infrastructure investment plan to deepen its links with economies throughout Asia and beyond. China has plans to pitch in $10 billion in the neighbouring Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone.

Besides, it wants to establish a railway from the Bay of Bengal, linking Myanmar with its Yunnan Province, within the framework of its Belt and Road undertaking. India, on its part is developing the Sittwe port, the capital of Rakhine province, for providing port access to its landlocked northeast.

With the crisis escalating, China has reiterated its offer to mediate between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

“China is willing to continue promoting peace talks in its own way, and hopes the international community can play a constructive role to ease the situation and promote dialogue,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi was quoted as saying.

Pakistan’s role

China’s offer to broker a resolution is not new. In April, Chinese Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang visited Bangladesh and offered to tackle a diplomatic row between Bangladesh and Myanmar over the flight of the Rohingya.

Yet, China’s efforts may not succeed without active behind-the -scenes support from Pakistan, another player that has been drawn into the Rohingya entanglement.

Writing in the Asia Times , Bertil Lintner, a Myanmar specialist, points out that ARSA’s leader, Ataullah abu Ammar Junjuni, also known as Hafiz Tohar, was born in Karachi and received madrasa education in Saudi Arabia. The group was earlier known as Harakah al-Yaqin, or “the faith movement,” and only last year adopted its more ethnically oriented name.

Mr. Lintner pointed out there were thousands of first, second and third generation Rohingya living in Orangi, Korangi, Landhi and other impoverished suburbs of Karachi. “The areas where they live are long-time hotbeds of extremist activity, with some known to have been recruited to fight in the wars in Afghanistan,” the article observed.

Peregrine · Post by **Peregrine** » 13 Oct 2017 00:49

Love in times of tragedy: BD man in trouble for marrying Rohingya woman

COX'S BAZAR, BANGLADESH: Bangladesh police were Sunday searching for a man who defied a ban and married a Rohingya refugee, hundreds of thousands of whom have fled across the border to escape violence in Myanmar.

More than half a million Rohingya refugees have flocked to Bangladesh since an army crackdown began on August 25 in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, a process the UN has described as ethnic cleansing.

Shoaib Hossain Jewel, 25, and his 18-year-old Rohingya bride Rafiza have been on the run since marrying last month, said police in Jewel’s home town of Singair.

“We heard he married a Rohingya woman. We went to his home at Charigram village to look for him,” Singair police chief Khandaker Imam Hossain told AFP. “But we did not find him there and his parents don’t know where he has gone,” he said, adding they were investigating the case.

In 2014 Dhaka banned marriages between Bangladeshis and Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim refugees following claims that members of the persecuted community were attempting to wed to gain citizenship in the mainly Muslim nation.

Jewel’s father Babul Hossain said citizenship was not the motive this time and defended his son’s marriage to Rafiza. “If Bangladeshis can marry Christians and people of other religions, what’s wrong in my son’s marriage to a Rohingya?” Hossain told AFP. “He married a Muslim who took shelter in Bangladesh.”

The Dhaka Tribune newspaper said Jewel, a teacher in a madrassa or religious school, fell in love with Rafiza after her family fled the latest bout of violence in Myanmar and took refuge at a cleric’s house in Singair.

In a police crackdown, the family was forced to move back to the main refugee camp in the southeastern district of Cox’s Bazar — some 265 miles from Singair.

A lovestruck Jewel rushed to Cox’s Bazar, running from one camp to another in search of Rafiza. He finally found her and asker her parents for their daughter’s hand in marriage. Their wedding in Cox’s Bazar was the first known one between a Bangladeshi and a Rohingya refugee since the August flare-up, the newspaper reported.

Many Bangladeshi men have travelled to the refugee camps since the influx began in hopes of marrying young Rohingya women, according to local media reports.

An AFP correspondent met a Bangladeshi man at Balukhali makeshift camp who came from a neighbouring village to find a bride for his elder brother. “My brother wants to marry a Rohingya woman just to help her. He thinks marrying a girl from the distressed Muslim community will be treated as an act of charity,” he said.

A senior police officer said they have stepped up surveillance in the camps to stop any such marriages and to combat trafficking of refugee girls or children, many of whom fled to Bangladesh unaccompanied by parents.

“We are taking all preventive actions to ensure there are no marriages between Bangladeshis and Rohingya,” Cox’s Bazar’s deputy police chief Mohammad Kazi Humayun Rashid told AFP. He said authorities have banned any Bangladeshi or foreigner from entering the settlements after 5:00 pm. However, all over India - especially Jammu & Kashmir - may be Hundreds of Thousands may be Millions of Rohingyas and Illegal Bangladeshis are "settling" in India!

Cheers

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 13 Oct 2017 13:58

The hidden Saudi/Wahaabi hand that may have sparked off the Ro crisis.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/ ... -role.html

Wide Angle: Rohingya crisis - Is there a Saudi role?
Published Oct 13, 2017,
SAEED NAQVIThe writer is a senior journalist and commentator based in New Delhi

The defeat of militant groups in Syria has, ironically, created another kind of problem.
Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, stretch their arms out to receive packets of biscuits thrown at them as handouts. (Photo: AP)

He sat at the head of a long dining table, donning the grandest headgear, a combination of turban and hat, with neat, cascading pleats. Grand Mufti Ahmed Bader Eddin Mohammad Adib Hassoun, Syria’s highest religious authority, held the ambassadors and a sprinkling of journalists in his thrall. It was an unstoppable torrent. Unable to get a word in edgeways, the guests attended, with dedication, to the sort of elaborate feast which has gone out of fashion in this era of spartan hospitality even in diplomatic circles. That the Mufti was not on a mission of religious sightseeing alone was clear from his itinerary. He had quality time with home minister Rajnath Singh and travelled to Srinagar to meet chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti. The office of the National Security Council discussed in some detail West Asia and Rohingya refugees. According to him, the running Rohingya-Buddhist conflict is being aggravated by the US-Saudi combine to serve their interests — to transform the moderate, Sufi-inclined Rohingyas into Salafi groups. These would help destabilise a country neighbouring China. Evidence of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine state since the 7th century is not accompanied by a narrative of harmony with the Buddhist majority in that country throughout this period. But since 1970-80, increased repression, economic deprivation and denial of citizenship rights could possibly be because of the reverberations following the Iranian revolution in 1979.

Saudi Arabia, particularly shaken by the emerging, bipolarity in the Muslim world, took the lead in drumming up an anti-Shia hysteria. Over time, Sufi Islam was also in the line of fire. Riyadh had an interest in diverting the world’s attention towards Iran because a much bigger danger had reared its head within Saudi society. An anti-monarchy, radical, Islamic group had occupied Islam’s most important mosque in Mecca for weeks almost at the same time as the Iranian revolution. The Saudis needed to create Wahabi enclaves wherever they could. This brief background is essential to understand the antecedents to the current exodus of over 400,000 Rohingyas. Americans no longer deny that they have from time to time fallen back on militants or terrorist groups as tactical assets. In an interview to Christiane Amanpour, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov made exactly that allegation. Neither could Amanpur risk a counter-allegation, nor ask a followup question on that subject. Heaven knows what beans Lavrov might spill on live TV. Since the Mufti’s visit, a disturbing narrative circulating in some circles suggests that the present crisis was precipitated from outside.

The story begins in 2012 when Prince Bandar bin Sultan, former Saudi ambassador to the US (nicknamed Bandar Bush because of his close friendship with then President George W. Bush), who had then been given the “Syrian portfolio” by the late King Abdullah, invited a Rohingya named Hafiz Taha to his office in Riyadh. Taha was given the task of developing “Islamist sleeper cells” in Rakhine. The idea was to promote Islamism of the Wahabi variety among a people who were otherwise inclined towards a folksy form of Sufism. In her study on the Rohingyas for the Council on Foreign Relations, Eleanor Albert’s version tallies with the Mufti’s narrative on how the trouble started in Rakhine in August. Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army “claimed responsibility for attacks on police and army posts”. Is it any surprise that the government declared ARSA a terrorist organisation? It was then that the military mounted a “brutal campaign that destroyed hundreds of Rohingya villages and forced more than 500,000 Rohingya to leave Myanmar, approximately half of the Rohingya population out of the country”.

Military brutality on a scale never seen in history was then unleashed: the security forces allegedly opened fire on fleeing civilians and planted landmines near the border crossings used by the Rohingyas to flee to Bangladesh. A long-simmering conflict, intensifying over the past decade, was custom-made for outsiders to ignite and cause an explosion. This precisely is what appears to have been precipitated in Rakhine state two months ago. “But why would sleeping cells be activated now?” Well, one lesson learnt from manufactured terrorist groups is this: groups reared on lethal Islam cannot be destroyed. They have to be relocated. The defeat of militant groups in Syria has, ironically, created another kind of problem. Trained with Western and Saudi help, these trained terrorists cannot be “exterminated” or sent to the gas chambers. They have to be given work elsewhere.

In the Syrian whodunit, the Americans have actually been admitting their mistakes with endearing docility. Remember former secretary of defence Ashton Carter, his face distinctly in the lower mould, being grilled by a US congressional committee, then by the media, for the clumsiness of US special operations in Syria? The “moderates” they were training had left their weapons with the Al-Nusra Front and sought safe passage. Mr Carter announced, on live TV, that a $500 million training programme had been discontinued. Remember Gen. Lloyd Austin admitted to the Senate’s armed services committee that “only four or five” fighters trained by the Americans were “in the fight”. In an interview to Thomas Friedman of the New York Times in 2015, former President Barack Obama admitted that he had not bombed ISIS when it first reared its head because “that would have relieved pressure on Iraq’s Shia Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki” whose departure, and not ISIS’ elimination, was a US priority.

The cake for flaunting terrorism as an asset goes to Bandar bin Sultan, who promised a “terrorism-free Sochi Olympics” in February 2014 to President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin if only the Russians helped him show Bashar al-Assad the door out of Damascus. The plight of the Rohingyas in the exodus is even more heartbreaking as they have no clue of the Kafkian script which has maliciously affiliated then with the externally-financed Rohingya Salvation Army, a group most of the refugees know absolutely nothing about.

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 13 Oct 2017 15:55

SC refuses to stay Rohingya deportation. Asks for humanitarian approach.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 13 Oct 2017 17:35

Status quo over Rohingya crisis continues
The Supreme Court on Friday orally indicated that the government should not deport Rohingya “now” as the Centre prevailed over it to not record any such views in its formal order, citing “international ramifications”.
....
“Take action wherever you find wrong, but do not deport now,” Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra orally asked the Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre.

periaswamy · Post by **periaswamy** » 13 Oct 2017 18:12

Who are these unelected judges to override the mandate of an elected government? Just who do they think they are to talk about "international ramifications"? The Attorney General has stated explicitly that the government is not bound to any "international treaties" to which it is not a signatory. So who are these judges to override the govt.'s judgement? Does this mean the SC can now override the legislature and decide that India has to adhere to NPT if the SC rules so? Where does this stop? Where are the lines drawn to keep the SC out of policy making? Does this mean that govt. can decide how to interpret laws and interfere with the SC's mandate?

policy making is the responsibility of the legislature and executive, not these fools in the SC who do not have the competence to rule on such matters. Why is the GoI not taking these judges to task? What is going on?

Karthik S · Post by **Karthik S** » 13 Oct 2017 21:06

Subramanian Swamy‏Verified account @Swamy39 58m58 minutes ago
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The Solicitor General was silly He according to Times Now stated “India’s international prestige will suffer if SC gave relief to Rohingya”!
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Prashant P. Umrao‏Verified account
@ippatel
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Replying to @Swamy39
Weak arguments by Govt.,rather than making case about executive privilege to regulate borders & not accepting influx of hostile population.

Is it deliberate or plain stupidity from the govt like shaadi shagun program?