Arakan News Agency
Chief Minister if the Indian state of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, decided that state confirmed that the state government is pushing back Rohingya refugees and other “illegal infiltrators” into Bangladesh, rather than pursuing legal action against them.
He announced the new policy shift saying that Assam won’t bring migrants inside the country but instead will push them back as a news method to curb migrant influx.
Sarma stated that this pushback policy is part of a broader central government operation targeting foreign nationals, with Assam as an active participant.
Earlier, such individuals were detained, charged under Indian law, and held in jails, such practices were criticized by humanitarian organizations that demanded India to treat Rohingya with dignity as refugees not illegal migrants.
India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. It treats the Rohingya in the country as illegal immigrants, arresting and deporting them, even those registered with the UNHCR.
More than a million Rohingya have fled Rakhine State in western Myanmar in recent years after the Myanmar military launched a genocidal campaign against them in 2017. The separatist Arakan Army launched a military campaign to seize control of the state in November 2023, also targeting them with violence, displacement, and forced conscription. Most of them live in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, while others seek to move to other countries in search of better living conditions.
