We are not here as terrorists, say Rohingya refugees in Hyderabad

Agencies
September 21, 2017

Hyderabad, Sept 21: His homeland forced him into exile and his host country is threatening to deport him but Syedullah Bashar is hopeful that one day justice will be his -- and his community of Rohingya Muslims.

As the world debates the plight of Rohingya Muslims, forced to flee their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine state, Bashar is hoping desperately that the Indian government does not deport them.

"We have not come here to create any problems. Please don't treat us as terrorists," he said.

The makeshift hut in a Rohingya migrant camp is home for him and his family.

"Nobody wants to be a refugee. We had to flee Myanmar as the government committed genocide. Once normalcy returns, we want to go back to our country," said the 27-year-old father of two.

Bashar ran a stone business in Myanmar and now works as a labourer here, eking out a precarious existence with his parents, wife and two children.

Caught in the global spotlight of an escalating humanitarian crisis, Bashar is one of the thousands of Rohingya Muslims - described by the UN as the most persecuted minority in the world - staying in India.

While the government estimates there are 14,000 Rohingyas in various places across the country, aid workers say the number is closer to 40,000.

Hyderabad is home to an estimated 3,500-4,000 Rohingyas staying in camps in different parts of the Old City. About 3,500 people are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Some of them came in 2012 when violence broke out in their homeland.

Their worries have compounded since the government this week told the Supreme Court that Rohingya Muslims are illegal immigrants and their continued stay posed "serious national security ramifications".

Today, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh added that they were not refugees who had sought asylum but illegal immigrants who would be deported.

"We also wish to go back to our motherland. If the world supports us, we are hopeful of going back. Won't you be heartbroken and cry if you are forced to leave your country," said Abdul Karim.

"We are poor people. Whatever work we are offered, we do it. Due to violence in Myanmar, some of our own family members and relatives are not with us. Some fled to Bangladesh, some to Indonesia, some others to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and some also to Dubai," said the 20- year-old who works in a local hotel.

Bashar added that the government could check all the places that Rohingyas were staying in across India and punish those found guilty of doing anything related to terrorism.

"We Rohingya refugees are forced to stay in different parts of the world. The army in Myanmar has a policy of subjecting us to atrocities. We are hopeful that equal rights will be restored to us," Bashar said.

Describing India as a "superpower", he requested the Indian government to allow them to stay till the community got equal rights in Myanmar.

Sultan Mahmood, 65, echoed him.

"We have no links to terrorists. We have come here because we feared for our lives...we are not a threat to anyone. The government here has helped us a lot. We have got shelter and doing whatever work we get. Police regularly come to our camps for checking. We got refugee cards due to the government's help. We want the Indian government's support."

Police, they say, pay regular visits to the camps and keep tabs on the community.

Expressing solidarity with the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar, some city-based organisations have held protest rallies here against the "genocide" of the community back home.

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News Network
March 15,2024

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Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi would formally kickstart the BJP's Lok Sabha election campaign in Karnataka on Saturday from Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's home turf— Kalaburagi.

He is scheduled to address a mega public meeting at the district headquarters town's N V Ground at 2 pm.

Kharge, who had represented Kalaburagi (Gulbarga Lok Sabha segment) twice in the past, lost to BJP's Umesh Jadhav by a margin of 95,452 votes in the 2019 general elections here— the octogenarian leader's first electoral loss in his political life spanning several decades.

BJP has once again fielded Jadhav from the segment.

Speculations are rife that the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, who has the role of managing the party nationally and coordinating with the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc, may not contest the coming polls and, instead, the Congress is likely to field his son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani, a businessman, who also manages educational institutions.

On March 18, Modi will be in Shivamogga, the home district of veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, and is scheduled to address a huge public meeting at 2 pm.

Yediyurappa's son B Y Raghavendra is the sitting MP from Shivamogga and has been re-nominated by the party. Yediyurappa's other son B Y Vijayendra, who represents Shikaripura assembly constituency in the district, is the state BJP President.

BJP has announced candidates for 20 seats in the State, which has a total of 28 constituencies.

After being ousted from power by the Congress in the 2023 Assembly polls, the BJP now is making a strong bid to regain the lost ground in Karnataka.

The BJP won 25 out of total 28 seats in the previous elections, and had ensured the win of a party supported independent candidate in Mandya. The then ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance had come a cropper winning just one seat each.

It is a role reversal of sorts for JD(S), which joined the NDA last September and has forged an electoral alliance with the BJP. The regional party is expected to contest in three seats— Mandya, Hassan and Kolar.

Sharing details of Modi's visit, state BJP General Secretary Sunil Kumar on Wednesday said BJP National President J P Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath along with other leaders will visit different Lok Sabha constituencies for campaigning in the coming days.

Speaking about the party's poll preparations, he said: "We have divided 28 Lok Sabha constituencies into eight clusters for Lok Sabha elections. Keeping in view the local political and geographical background, programmes and strategies are being worked out in those eight clusters."

Several senior leaders including Shah and Nadda have already visited one of these clusters, Kumar said, adding, "Workers' convention, well-wishers' contacts have been made and election preparations are on in all these eight clusters. In the second phase, large public meetings will be held."

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News Network
March 22,2024

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday produced Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal before the Rouse Avenue court and sought a 10-day custody in the excise policy-linked money laundering case. "Kejriwal was the kingpin of the scam," the ED reportedly told the court after the AAP chief was produced before Special Judge Kaveri Baweja around 2 pm amid tight security. 

ASG S V Raju was appearing for the agency, while Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi is representing Kejriwal. 

Raju in his argument said Kejriwal was "directly involved in formulation of the (liquor) policy... he was involved in handling of proceeds of crime as well in the Goa election campaign."

"The expert committee was constituted but it was a sham committee. The policy was made in such a manner that it would enable the taking of bribes and recoupment of people who gave the bribes," the ED counsel said. 

Kejriwal was produced in the trial court shortly after he withdrew from the Supreme Court his plea against arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the excise policy-linked money laundering case. Kejriwal's counsel said he would contest the remand proceedings before the trial court and then come back to the apex court with another petition.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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New Delhi, Mar 27: The government has objected strongly to remarks by a US State Department spokesperson on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest last week in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam.

The External Affairs Ministry summoned Gloria Berbena, the US' Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, to a 40-minute meet at its office in Delhi on Wednesday afternoon. In a brief statement released shortly afterwards, the MEA warned of "unhealthy precedents and against "unwarranted aspersions".

"States are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others, and this responsibility is even more so in case of fellow democracies. It could otherwise end up setting unhealthy precedents," the External Affairs Ministry said.

"India's legal processes are based on an independent judiciary which is committed to objective and timely outcomes. Casting aspersions on that is unwarranted," the statement stressed.

On Tuesday the US State Department said it is monitoring reports of Mr Kejriwal's arrest, and called on New Delhi to ensure "a fair and timely legal process" for the jailed Aam Aadmi Party leader.

The US State Department's comments came, in turn, days after Germany's Foreign Office stressed that Mr Kejriwal, like any other Indian citizen facing charges, is entitled to a fair and impartial trial.

The Indian government reacted strongly to the comment, summoning the German envoy and labelling the Foreign Office spokesperson's remark "blatant interference in internal matters".

"We see such remarks as interfering in our judicial process and undermining the independence of our judiciary," the External Affairs Ministry said, "Biased assumptions are most unwarranted."

Asked about India's protest to Germany, the State Department spokesperson told Reuters, "We refer you to the German Foreign Ministry for comment on their discussions with the Indian government."

Earlier this month the Modi government also took exception to comments by its counterpart on the changes to the citizenship law, calling them out as "misplaced, misinformed, and unwarranted".

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last week in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam that has roiled his AAP and provoked furious protests from the opposition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Mr Kejriwal was this week sent to jail till March 28.

The Enforcement Directorate believes the now-scrapped liquor policy provided an impossibly high profit margin of 185 per cent for retailers and 12 per cent for wholesalers. Of the latter, six per cent - over ₹ 600 crore - were bribes and the money was allegedly used to fund the AAP's poll campaigns.

The ED has labelled the Chief Minister as a key conspirator in this case, but Mr Kejriwal and party colleagues arrested in this matter - ex-Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, and former Health Minister Satyendar Jain - have all denied the charges.

The AAP and the opposition have hit out at the BJP-led central government for using central agencies, like the ED, to target rivals and critics before the general election. The AAP has criticised Mr Kejriwal's arrest on grounds it was timed to interfere with his plans to campaign for the party.

The BJP has dismissed claims it uses central agencies as described by the opposition.

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