Jamiat No info on forced conversions of Rohingya women

NEW DELHI Reacting to reports of forced conversions of Hindu Rohingya women to

Islam at Bangladeshi relief camps for+AKA-Rohingyas minority organisation+AKA-
Jamiat Ulama-i- Hind's senior functionary Niaz Ahmed Farooqui said he had no
knowledge or information about any such attempts and claimed the Jamiat was against
all forced conversions.According to a news report in Mail Today newspaper many
Hindu Rohingya women revealed that they were harassed forced to remove sindoor
break bangles among other things in Bangladeshi relief camps.It was stated in the
report that Hindu Rohingyas living in AKA Bangladesh AKA relief camps have
purportedly become a soft target for Muslim Rohingyas in the country. Both have
taken shelter after coming from AKA Myanmar AKA but the difference is in the
numbers and that is the key.Farooqui said I dont know anything about the report of
conversions so I will not comment on the matter. However I would like to make it
clear that the Jamiat has always been against forced conversions to any
religion.All India Muslim Personal Law Board member Kamal Faruqui said he had not
seen the report and would not like to make a comment till he sees it.MoS Home
Hansraj Ahir slams Varun Gandhi for comments on Rohingyas

NEW DELHI After BJP MP+AKA-Varun Gandhi AKA wrote an opinion piece contradicting
his own partys stand on deporting the Rohingya refugees a senior minister from
the+AKA-Narendra Modi AKA cabinet hit back saying the statement is against national
interest.Varun in his column for AKA Navbharat Times has asked the government to
consider granting refugee status to the Rohingyas from Myanmar. He also said that
along with international agreements India is a signatory to we also have the rich
Indian tradition of helping refugees.The Sultanpur MP further suggested for a+AKA-
national refugee policy which differentiates between people fleeing a country
following persecution as opposed to those fleeing poverty.His suggestion has
however not gone down well with the ruling BJP government at the Centre.Minister of
State (MoS) for Home Affairs+AKA-Hansraj Ahir+AKA-said no nationalist would ever
give such a statement.Rohingyas created trouble for Myanmar and worked against the
government. If Myanmar has rejected them why should we accept them Ahir said adding
that the government is using full force to stop the Rohingya from settling in India
since they are a security threat.In a bid to water down the controversy Gandhi
later clarified that he was just empathising with Rohingyas and didnt intend to
defy party and governments line.My recent piece focused primarily on defining
Indias asylum policy with clear demarcations on how we would accept refugees he
tweeted.Interestingly this is not the first time Varun Gandhi has adopted different
stance from the one taken by his own party in Centre.Currently the Supreme Court is
hearing multiple petitions both in favour of and against deporting Rohingya Muslims
who have been fleeing Myanmar following its armys crackdown in the Rakhine
state.Around 40000 Rohingya Muslims have taken refuge in India in the last five
years with most of them settling in Jammu New Delhi Punjab and Rajasthan.However
the latest exodus of the Muslim minority Rohingyas began on August 25 when the
Myanmar army launched fresh offensive in Rakhine following an attack by Rohingya
rebels on multiple government posts.Rohingya violence Myanmar searches for more
Hindu corpses as mass grave unearthed YANGON AKA Myanmar AKA troops on Monday
searched for dozens of missing Hindu villagers feared dead after the discovery of a
grave containing 28 corpses in Rakhine state evidence of what the AKA Army AKA says
is a massacre by+AKA-Rohingya Muslim+AKA-militants.Northern Rakhine has been
ravaged by communal violence since Rohingya insurgents staged deadly raids on
police posts on August 25 unleashing an army crackdown that has displaced hundreds
of thousands of civilians.The vast majority more than 430000 are Rohingya Muslims
who have fled across the border to Bangladesh from a military campaign which the UN
says likely amounts to ethnic cleansing of the stateless minority.But tens of
thousands of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and the regions small population of Hindus
have also been internally displaced saying they were attacked by Rohingya
militants.On Sunday the army said it had discovered two mud pits filled with 28
Hindu corpse including women and children, outside the village of Ye Baw Kyaw in
northern Rakhine.The security troops continue searching for remaining Hindu people
around the places of the pits said a statement posted on army chief Min Aung Hlains
Facebook page Monday blaming Rohingya militants for the killings.Displaced Hindus
from the area told AFP last week that Rohingya fighters stormed into their
communities on August 25 killing many and taking others into the forest.They showed
AFP a list of 102 people from two villages Ye Baw Kyaw where the bodies were found
and Taung Ywar feared dead by distraught relatives who wept as they described the
bloodshed.A Hindu community leader in the area, Ni Maul, confirmed to AFP that the
search was going on.Soldiers and police are here with us to find the rest of the
bodies around this area he said adding that authorities are still working to
identify the 28 corpses exhumed on Sunday.With the government blocking access to
the conflict zone it is difficult to verify the maelstrom of accusations that have
further fuelled ethnic hatreds in Rakhine.But the army has steadfastly blamed
violence on the Rohingya a Muslim minority it has been trying for years to eject
from Myanmar while highlighting the suffering of other ethnic groups swept up in
the violence.The focal point of the unrest northern Rakhines Maungdaw district was
once home to a fragile mosaic of religious communities dominated by the
Rohingya.Vast swathes of the border region are now completely emptied of Muslim
residents with nearly 40 percent of Rohingya villages abandoned in under a
month.Frightened and dispossessed ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Hindus who have
largely fled south say they see no future alongside their former Muslim
neighbours.I do not dare go back to the village said Kyaw Kyaw Naing one of
hundreds of displaced Hindus sheltering in a derelict football stadium in Rakhines
state capital Sittwe.We still do not know yet how many of those dead bodies include
relatives from our camp added the 34-year old whose Hindu name is Shu Bown.In
Bangladesh relief agencies are struggling to meet the vast needs of the Rohingya
cramming into shanties in Coxs Bazar an influx the UN has described as the fastest
and most urgent refugee emergency in the world.Yet there is little sympathy for the
Muslim minority inside Myanmar where Islamophobia has been stewing for years among
the overwhelmingly Buddhist population.Even before the latest eruption of violence
the 1.1 million-strong Rohingya were relegated to precarious and impoverished lives
with hundreds of thousands trapped in refugee camps following previous waves of
persecution.Those outside the camps were subject to laws that stripped them of
citizenship and severely restricted their movements and access to jobs schooling
and healthcare.Analysts say the repression helped give rise to the Arakan Rohingya
Salvation Army whose raids plunged the region into crisis.

Rohingya exodus Suu Kyi must facilitate return and citizenship for the persecuted
community Finally breaking her silence on the Rohingya exodus Myanmars state
counsellor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has said that her
government would like to understand the root causes of the refugee crisis and
investigate charges of human rights abuses. With an estimated four lakh Rohingya
refugees pouring into Bangladesh since a brutal security crackdown began in
Myanmars Rakhine state last month for Suu Kyi to claim ignorance of ground
realities is disingenuous. Perhaps the extent of global condemnation pouring in has
made her speak out. She must now accept the refugees back and use her good offices
to halt their further persecution.Rohingyas have faced several rounds of purges at
the hands of Myanmars security establishment. And despite living in Myanmars
Rakhine state for generations they continue to be denied Myanmarese citizenship
have severe restrictions placed on their movement within that country, and are
deprived of access to healthcare education and other civic amenities. This is like
an apartheid regime albeit applied to a minority rather than a majority. This
hostile view of Rohingyas came to be formalised under Myanmars erstwhile military
junta. With Myanmars democratic dawn it is time to end this view of the
Rohingyas.If there are elements among the Rohingyas who have taken up arms and
possibly established linkages with nefarious international organisations then it
because the community has been brutally persecuted for decades. The current
Rohingya exodus and the turmoil in Rakhine state can only be stopped by Naypyidaw.
Towards this end the international community needs to put pressure on Myanmar to
definitively end persecution of Rohingyas and allow those who have fled to return.
Plus since Suu Kyi has invited international scrutiny over the issue she should
allow a UN mandated fact finding mission to visit Rakhine state.Ultimately, Myanmar
has to grant Rohingyas citizenship. It cant expect India or Bangladesh to take in
Rohingya refugees they have limited resources in relation to the populations they
have to serve. In this respect India too needs to come up with a clear and
consistent policy on refugees. It cant cite resource constraints to justify
deportation of Rohingyas and yet champion an Amendment Bill in Parliament that
creates a route to citizenship for non Muslim minorities. New Delhi should also use
its connections in Naypyidaw and work with other global powers to persuade Myanmar
to take back the refugees.