J&K admin begins drive to collect biometric details, verification of Rohingyas

JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Saturday began a drive to collect biometric and other details of Rohingyas staying in Jammu, officials said.

The Rohingyas are a Bengali-dialect speaking Muslim minority in Myanmar. Following persecution in their country, many of them entered India illegally through Bangladesh and took shelter in Jammu and other parts of India.

The verification process of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar was carried out at the MAM Stadium here amid high security, they said.

Under the drive, their biometric and other details, such as place of stay, were collected, the officials said.

“We filled up forms after conducting COVID-19 test. Our fingerprints were taken,” Abdul Hanan, a Myanmar national, told reporters here.

He said after the screening process he left the stadium.

Certain political parties and social organisations, had urged the Centre to take immediate steps for the deportation of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis alleging that their presence is a “conspiracy to alter the demographic character” of the region and “a threat to the peace in the region”.

More than 13,700 foreigners, including Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshi nationals, are settled in Jammu and Samba districts, where their population has increased by over 6,000 between 2008 and 2016, according to government data.