Kolkata: Rohingya Human Rights Initiative founder calls for Centre to pressurise Myanmar to take back refugees

The founder of the Delhi-based organisation, the Rohingya Human Rights Initiative, visited Kolkata where he met several representatives from various human rights organizations. He added that the Myanmar government should take back the Rohingyas who have fled the nation after the country’s military allegedly organised an attack in what many have termed as ethnic cleansing.

Sabber, who has been in India since 2005, told DNA that he visited two homes, where the children speak chaste Bengali and have forgotten their native tongue. “This will be tougher for authorities to prove that they are residents of Myanmar,” he said.

He added that he had sought permission from the authorities to visit jails in West Bengals where Rohingyas have been kept. “The Indian government should put pressure on the Myanmar. I have also written a letter to the Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Kolkata thanking the Bangladesh government for the support they had extended to the Rohingyas who had crossed over from Myanmar to Bangladesh.”

He added that one of the most essential things that Rohingyas needed at present was education. “There are 30 lakh Rohingyas but they can hardly read or write. I have talked to JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) professors if they could start some small courses for Rohingyas here in India,” he told DNA.