Shuriah Niazi
06 July 2019•Update: 07 July 2019
New Delhi
Following reports of Indian authorities using force to send refugees back to Myanmar, a rights group on Friday called on New Delhi to protect the refugees, who fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Fortify Rights, a South Asia-based human rights group, on Friday posted video footage they claim shows Indian security forces dragging a refugee woman from a bamboo hut in the eastern Indian state of Mizoram.
The footage shows three security officials dragging the woman out of a bamboo shelter while other people in civilian and military clothes stand nearby. The woman is crying but nobody stops the officials from dragging her on the ground. The footage also shows security officials taking children away from the house.
"Indian security forces reportedly forced more than 100 Rakhine refugees back to Myanmar this week," the group said in a statement.
The mostly Buddhist refugees from Rakhine state fled armed conflict between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military in recent months.
More than 30,000 civilians in seven Rakhine townships have been displaced since this January due to the conflict, the rights group said.
Indian authorities have also been accused of beating and threatening Rohingya refugees, Muslims from Rakhine who fled Myanmar state persecution.
The rights group also "documented how Indian authorities beat and threatened Rohingya refugees, forcing some to flee to Bangladesh."
Fortify Rights called on the Indian government to end the forced return of refugees from Myanmar and ensure their protection.
“Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims appear to be equally victim to President Modi’s callous anti-refugee policy in India,” said Matthew Smith, the CEO of Fortify Rights. “India should end forced returns of refugees seeking safety from atrocity crimes and ensure protection.”
-A persecute people
The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.
According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.
Since August 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).
More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the report, titled "Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience."
Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, it added.
