September 18, 2017: The Centre today told the Supreme Court that Rohingya refugees were illegal immigrants and some of them were part of a sinister design of Pakistan’s ISI and terror groups such as the ISIS. Therefore, their presence in the country will pose a serious national security threat.
The Ministry of Home Affairs today made its stand clear in a much-awaited affidavit in the apex court, in which it also said the fundamental right to settle in any part of the country was available only to citizens and not the Rohingyas.
It categorically stated that the apex court should not invoke its jurisdiction, as the issue of Rohingyas fell under the exclusive domain of policy decision of the executive.
The government said it may file in sealed cover the details of the security threats and inputs gathered by the various security agencies in this matter.
The Centre said that since India is not a signatory to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951, the obligations concerned to non-refoulement is not applicable.
The plea, filed by two Rohingya immigrants, Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir, who are registered refugees
under the United Nations High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR), claimed they had taken refuge in India after escaping from Myanmar due to widespread discrimination, violence and bloodshed against the community there.
The SC bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra has fixed the PIL challenging the deportation of Rohingyas for hearing on October 3. (AIR News)
