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For first time, India to deport 7 Rohingyas to Myanmar via Manipur border today

The immigrants were under detention in Cachar Central Jail in Assam's Silchar district since 2012, when they were detained by police.

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For the first time, India will deport seven Rohingya immigrants, who have been staying in Assam illegally, to their home country Myanmar on Thursday, officials said.

The immigrants were under detention in Cachar Central Jail in Assam's Silchar district since 2012, when they were detained by police.

They will be handed over to Myanmar authorities at Moreh border post in Manipur Thursday, a Home Ministry official said.

Consular access had been given to Myanmar diplomats, who confirmed the identity of the immigrants, the official said.

Another official said the confirmation of the Myanmarese citizenship of the illegal immigrants came after the government of the neighbouring country verified their addresses in Rakhine State.

This is for the first time Rohingya immigrants would be sent back to Myanmar from India.

In Guwahati, Assam Additional Director General of Police (Border) Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta said deportation of foreign nationals have been going on for sometime and earlier in the year "we have deported several Bangladeshi, Myanmarese and Pakistani nationals".

The seven immigrants were apprehended on July 29, 2012, for violating the Foreigners Act.

Those to be deported are Md Jamal, Mohbul Khan, Jamal Hussain, Md Yonus, Sabir Ahmed, Rahim Uddin and Md Salam and are in the age bracket of 26-32 years, a Cachar district official said.

Earlier on Wednesday, fresh plea was moved in the Supreme Court  seeking to restrain the Centre from deporting to Myanmar the seven Rohingyas lodged in a detention centre at Silchar in Assam.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, which made it clear to lawyers at the outset that it will not allow urgent mentioning of matters till the framing of "parameters" on such cases, said that it would take a decision on urgent hearing in this issue after perusing the application.

The bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, was told by lawyer Prashant Bhushan that some Rohingya refugees were on the verge of being deported and the matter required urgent hearing.

"No mentioning. We will work out the parameters then we will see as to how mentioning will be done," the bench said, adding that matters like execution of a death row convict, eviction cases can be heard urgently.

The interim plea, seeking urgent measures to stop the proposed deportation of seven Rohingyas, has been filed in a pending PIL.

The PIL was filed earlier by two Rohingya immigrants -- Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir -- challenging the Centre's decision to deport over 40,000 refugees who came to India after escaping from Myanmar due to widespread discrimination and violence against the community.

The fresh plea said that the decision to deport was in "grave violation" of India's international obligation and moreover, the situation in Myanmar was extremely dangerous for the Rohingyas to return and they are likely to be subjected to torture and even killed.

"Pass an order restraining the Union of India from taking any steps towards the deportation of any Rohingya refugees lodged in jails or detention centres in Assam or other parts of the country in contravention of non-derogable principles of customary international law and during the pendency if the case," the plea said.

The Indian government had informed Parliament last year that over 14,000 Rohingya people, registered with the UN refugee agency UNHCR, stay in India.

However, aid agencies estimate there are about 40,000 Rohingya people in the country.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, described by the UN as the most persecuted minority in the world, fled their homes last year to escape an alleged crackdown by the Myanmarese military.

Human rights group Amnesty International has blamed Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the country's government for "burying their heads in the sand over the horrors unfolding in Rakhine State". 

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