HYDERABAD: Daring the Centre to make its stand clear on Rohingya refugees, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday sought to know why the Home Ministry took a U-turn after Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted that Rohingya refugees would be shifted to flats built for the economically weaker sections (EWS) in Delhi.
Puri had also said that the Rohingya would be provided basic amenities, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) ID cards and round-the-clock police protection.“The Union Minister, who has served as a decorated officer in the Indian Foreign Service and has represented the country at the United Nations, had clear-cut concurrence with his government when he made the announcement. What invisible hand later forced the Ministry of Home Affairs to issue a contradictory statement?” Owaisi asked.
Addressing the media in New Delhi on Thursday, the Hyderabad MP observed that India has accepted the non-refoulment policy which guarantees that no refugee or asylum seeker would be forced to return to a country he or she would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and said that India is yet to ratify the Convention Against Torture (CAT).
Pointing out that there were 18,114 Rohingya living as refugees in the country as per the August 2020 data of the UN Human Rights Council, Owaisi said that it was high time Prime Minister Narendra Modi came up with a policy on Rohingya and other refugees.
Cancel remission of rapists
Urging the Centre not to look at the case of Bilkis Bano as a Muslim woman’s issue, but as a matter of justice, Owaisi demanded the Prime Minister to cancel the release orders of the 11 convicts in the case of gang rape and murder of 14 members of her family during the 2002 pogrom in Gujarat.
“Bilkis Bano herself in a sta-tement said that all the wounds she has suffered in the last 20 years have been opened again. She doesn’t feel safe or at peace anymore. Should there be a closure for her or not?” he asked.
Alleging that the BJP government in Gujarat was trying to show in the election season that it was standing with those who were in jail and not with those who have been fighting for justice, he urged the Prime Minister to do justice to Bano.
Killings of Pandits
Holding the Centre and the L-G of Jammu and Kashmir responsible for the fresh killings of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, Owaisi said that they made the movie ‘Kashmir Files’ and put Kashmiri Pandits in a vulnerable position by doing so.
“When BJP workers raise slogans against a community while watching the film in the theatres, don’t you think it will have repercussions elsewhere?” the MP pointed out.
Centre publicity hungry: MP
The Centre is looking at everything as a headline, but ignoring the impact of such issues happening on the
ground, the MP alleged