UN Against India's Move To Deport Rohingya Muslim Refugees From Jammu: Spokesman

UNITED NATIONS, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Mar, 2021 ) :The United Nations on Monday took issue with India over reports that it was planning to deport Rohingya Muslim refugees from occupied Jammu and Kashmir, saying "refugees should never be returned against their will to the place where they come from." "Our position -- the Secretary-General's position -- on refugees, I think is very clear and applies to every member state: that refugees should never be returned against their will to the place where they come from," UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in response to a question at a news briefing about reported detention by police of a large number of Rohingya refugees living in Jammu before their deportation back to Myanmar.

He said he had not seen the reports, but the UN's position in this regard was well known.

"There is a strong belief in the policy of non-refoulement," the spokesman added.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government scrapped Jammu and Kashmir's special status in August 2019 and now administers the region from New Delhi.

The Hindu nationalist government regards the Rohingya Muslims as illegal aliens and a security risk, and has ordered that thousands of them living in scattered settlements be identified and repatriated.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were forced to flee their Buddhist-majority homeland after a crackdown by Myanmar's military in 2017. Most are in ramshackle camps on the border with Bangladesh.