India’s firm policy pushes more Rohingyas to Bangladesh

KOLKATA: India’s firm anti-Rohingya policy is triggering reverse migration with several Rohingyas, who worked as domestic help, construction labours and small-time shop-keepers, slowly moving back to Bangladesh.

According to BSF officials, at least 50 such Rohingya immigrants, who had been living in India for years, crossed over to Bangladesh over the past few weeks.

At least three big teams from Sharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh and Ambala in Punjab tried to cross over to Bangladesh through the border points in North 24 Paragana district.


The Border Security Forces apprehended some of these groups and handed them over to the local police for further legal action. According to a rough estimate, at least 40,000 Rohingya Muslims have been living in India for years now.

Central agencies monitoring the movement of Rohingyas have observed that reverse migration has started, albeit in small groups. Incidentally, this comes at a time when Indian Foreign Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, is having a meeting with Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, in Dhaka.

“Following the interrogation of some Rohingya immigrants who were apprehended, it appears that the people under whom they were working, had asked them to leave. ” a senior BSF official said.