Jammu tenants’ verification bring Rohingyas into spotlight; The Hiranagar sub-jail was notified as a holding centre on March 5, 2021, for lodging illegal immigrants as defined under Section 2(b) of the Citizenship Act
Even as Jammu Police has embarked on tenants’ verification drive in Jammu district since Sunday, detaining four Rohingya refugees and booking five landlords for renting out their properties to them, nearly 275 Rohingyas remain lodged in Hirangar sub-jail in Kathua district since March 2021.
The Hiranagar sub-jail was notified as a holding centre on March 5, 2021, for lodging illegal immigrants as defined under Section 2(b) of the Citizenship Act. “In our tenants’ verification drive since Sunday, we have detained four Rohingya refugees under Foreigners Act and have also registered five FIRs against as many landlords, who had rented out their properties to the Rohingyas without proper police verification,” said a senior police officer.
However, the tenants’ verification drive has again brought Rohingyas into the spotlight. “Over three and a half years since 2021, there has been no headway into their deportation to Myanmar and we await orders from the home department. Meanwhile, we have no option than to keep and feed them in the holding centre,” said a senior prison official, who declined to be named.
On March 6, 2021 on the instructions of the Union home ministry, the UT administration had started a verification drive of Rohingyas and sent 271 to the Hiranagar holding centre. “Rohingyas are a floating population and pose a security risk. Therefore, tenants’ verification drive is indispensable,” the official said.
A crackdown was launched on illegal immigrants in Jammu in 2021 and the Rohingyas were first requisitioned at MA Stadium from where they were ferried in police buses to Hiranagar sub jail. “The database of those lodged in Hiranagar sub-jail stands shared with the home ministry but there has been no further development,” he added.
UT home secretary Chandraker Bharti refused to speak on the issue while calls and messages to special secretary home Asgar Hussain went unanswered.
In October 2023, Jammu and Kashmir had booked three people, including a Rohingya woman, in Kishtwar district after she “fraudulently” obtained a domicile certificate in her name. The woman was identified as Anwara Begum of Myanmar. A facilitator and a revenue official, who issued the domicile certificate, were also booked.
On April 6, 2022, the J&K and Ladakh high court had directed the home secretary to identify all illegal immigrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh in the UT within six weeks.
According to government data, 13,400 illegal immigrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh were living in various parts of the UT. On March 25, 2017, the then Jammu district commissioner Simrandeep Singh had recovered fake state subject certificates, voter ID cards, Aadhaar cards and ration cards from the temporary shelters of Rohingyas in Jammu.
To escape persecution back home in Myanmar, Rohingya Muslims travelled thousands of kilometres and reached Jammu.
Salamat Ullah, 38, a Rohingya, who lives in Bhatindi, however, pleaded for a humane approach to tackle their issue.
“I, along with other dwellers in Kiryani Talab, look after 15 to 16 Rohingya children, whose parents have been lodged in Hiranagar sub jail since 2021,” he said. “They keep enquiring about their parents and ask us to bring them back.”
He expressed regret over the families not being allowed to meet their members lodged in the sub jail for the past over one year.
Salamat said his step-mother Noor Bahar and her five-year-old son were among those lodged in the holding centre. “Earlier, we used to take eatables for our family members lodged there but the practice has been stopped for the past over a year now,” he said.
On June 18 last year, jail inmates’ protest had turned violent. They had tried to set the prison ablaze with LPG cylinders and had also taken a few cops hostage. Police had to use force to control the situation. Since then, strict measures are in place at the jail.
