Water, power cut to 409 Rohingya families in Jammu and Kashmir

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir

Revenue authorities in the Indian-administered Kashmir have ordered that power and water supply for 409 Rohingya refugee families be cut off as part of an ongoing crackdown aimed at eventually deporting them back to their troubled homeland in Myanmar.

A revenue document in the possession of Anadolu outlines the private properties and the number of refugee families living in the Bahu area of the Jammu province, where hostility toward Rohingyas, particularly from India’s ruling Hindu right-wing groups, is strongly felt.

The document reveals that water and power connections are registered under the names of the local property owners. The authorities have identified seven clusters where the water and power supplies will be disconnected.

Mohammad (his last name withheld at his request, as he fears reprisals) spoke to Anadolu over the phone and shared his worries: “Our electricity and water supply is intact yet but all of us fear that it can go anytime because another Rohingya cluster nearby has been deprived of both. Our hearts are already broken because we have been driven out of our homeland. We can only request authorities to spare us. Otherwise, except for Allah we have no savior.”

He went on to explain that some officials had recently visited their cluster in Dongiyan and warned the landlord of legal consequences if they continued to host Rohingyas.

“We pay Rs 1,500-2,500 to the landlord as rent and also pay for electricity. But if the landlord feels harassed, why would he keep us? Children are already asking where would we go if we are driven out,” said Mohammad, a father of three children.

Reports from the media have indicated that, in the past two weeks, police have filed cases against people who have rented out their properties to Rohingyas. According to Rohingya community leaders who spoke on the condition of anonymity, nearly 5,000-6,000 Rohingya refugees have been living in approximately 40 clusters in the Jammu region.

Persecuted people

In July of the previous year, police had to use tear gas to quell a protest by dozens of Rohingya refugees who were being held in Hiranagar jail in Jammu.

In February 2021, roughly 150 Rohingya refugees living in Jammu were placed in a “holding center” within the jail, following orders from the Indian government, which views the Rohingya, who are Muslim, as illegal immigrants and a security threat.

The government has issued instructions for the identification and repatriation of the thousands of Rohingya refugees scattered across various settlements in the region.

According to Amnesty International, over 750,000 Rohingya refugees, the majority of them women and children, fled Myanmar after Myanmar’s military launched a violent crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.

Since August 25, 2017, more than 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s military forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

The OIDA’s report titled ‘Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience’ further describes the horrific nature of the violence. It states that more than 34,000 Rohingya were thrown into fires, over 114,000 were beaten, and as many as 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s military and police forces.

The report also highlights the destruction of more than 115,000 Rohingya homes, with another 113,000 homes vandalized.

Many of the survivors are now living in makeshift camps on the border with Bangladesh.