Requests Police To Help Them On Humanitarian Ground
Hyderabad: In an effort to help Rohingya Muslims, refugees who have fled the
ethnic violence in Burma, the Special Branch along with the COVA, which
is associated with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR), held a meeting on Tuesday which included a session on
sensitising police to the refugee issue.
The meeting comes days
after the Kanchanbagh police in the South Zone embarked on a cordon and
search operation and took into custody 15 Burmese refugees on grounds
that they did not have proper documentation. In a communique released to
the media on Saturday, the Kanchanbagh police said that as many as 152
refugees had reached the city in the past five years.
Speaking to TOI on
Tuesday, COVA executive director Mazher Hussain said that officials of
the UNHCR too attended the meeting and spoke about the issue of refugees
and how security agencies must handle them. Describing the conditions
in which the refugees leave their countries as adverse, Hussain said
that a vast majority of them are engaged in earning an honest living.
"It was an orientation programme for the police. We explained to them
about the refugee problems and what kind of places they come from, apart
from other aspects," Hussain said.
Other sources present at the
meeting said that the cops were informed of the mandate of the UNHCR.
"The guidelines pertaining to the the care and protection of refugees
was also discussed at the meeting," a source who did not wish to be
identified said. There have been stray incidents when refugees have
sought to make documents which show that they are Indian citizens, he
added. "Both the NGO and the cops realise that this is wrong," the
source said.
Sources said that there are a total of 3,415
refugees in the state. Out of this number, around 300 are from countries
such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries, the rest are Burmese.
Speaking to TOI on the condition of anonymity, a senior cop from the SB
said, "The refugees are stateless and the we were requested to help
them on humanitarian grounds.
Courtesy: Times of India
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