Rohingya Muslims seen as a security threat by Indian agencies

NEW DELHI: The Bureau of Immigration says that more than 10,000 Rohingya Muslim families have settled in India, with the highest number in Jammu and Kashmir. Security agencies fear the figure may be higher and pose serious security threat. Rohingyas have been infiltrating India from Myanmar ever since riots against them by the Buddhist majority.

According to official data, there are nearly 6,684 families of Rohingyas settled in Jammu and Kashmir while 1,755 are reported to be in Andhra Pradesh. The issues was taken up by the Centre recently with states after deputy NSA Arvind Gupta held a meeting in June over increasing infiltration of Rohingya into India from Myanmar. The government also asked states to prepare the list of the families, refugees' camps, their occupation and place of origin in Myanmar, added the official.

Rohingya Muslims in J&K are reportedly marrying Kashmiri women, which may pave the way for their permanent settlement there. In August 2011, the United Nations High Commission for Refugee had issued `Asylum Seeker Cards' to some Rohingyas Muslims staying in India for the last 4-5 years.

They have since then started demanding refugee status from the UNHCR to enable them to stay legally or relocate to a third country . The states where maximum influx of Rohingyas was recorded include Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur.

The security agencies have warned the Centre that Pakistan's Inter State Intelligence may try "to exploit Rohingyas to support jihad".