India has deported seven Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar, despite last-minute appeals that doing so put them at risk.<\/p>\n
The men had been detained since 2012 for immigration violations. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court refused to step in to stop their deportation.<\/p>\n
At least 700,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar in the past year.<\/p>\n
UN officials have accused Myanmar’s military of ethnic cleansing. The army says it has been tackling insurgents.<\/p>\n
The Rohingya are one of many ethnic minorities in Myanmar, where the government sees them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and denies them citizenship.<\/p>\n
The seven men deported on Thursday had been interred in a detention centre in India’s Assam state. They were handed over at the Moreh border crossing in neighbouring Manipur state.<\/p>\n
“These are Myanmarese nationals whose identities have been confirmed by their government. The government given them travel permits,” LS Changsan, a senior Assam official, told the BBC’s Vineet Khare.<\/p>\n
The UN special rapporteur on racism, Tendayi Achiume, said\u00a0India risked breaching its international legal obligations by returning the men to possible harm<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Given the ethnic identity of the men, this is a flagrant denial of their right to protection,” she told AFP news agency.<\/p>\n These are among the first deportations of Rohingyas from India since deadly attacks on police in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August 2017 sparked a military offensive.<\/p>\n Officials in India say two Rohingya men were sent back in August – but this has not been confirmed by Myanmar.<\/p>\n Last year India announced it would deport its entire Rohingya population, thought to number about 40,000. This number includes some 18,000 Rohingya registered as refugees by the UN.<\/p>\n Despite the international pressure on Myanmar, India is actively pursuing a good relationship with the country’s army officials.<\/p>\n Correspondents say India hopes to enlist their help in acting against militants in India’s north-east, many of whom are based in Myanmar’s jungles.<\/p>\n India’s government also aims to grow its influence in Southeast Asia to counter China’s increasing presence in the region.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"