Some Rohingyas have links to IS, Pakistan's ISI

The Indian government yesterday told the Supreme Court that it has intelligence inputs of links between some Rohingya Muslims and Pakistan's ISI and the terror group Islamic State, making them "a serious security threat to the country".

 The government also said in an affidavit filed in the country's top court that militant elements among Rohingyas are active in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mewar and Jammu and added that it will place all intelligence inputs in a sealed envelope before the court on October 3 to prove its claim that Rohingyas are a security threat.

An estimated 40,000 Rohingyas are present across India, including in Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan states.

The government affidavit said there is an "organised network of touts operating in Myanmar and also West Bengal and Tripura states of India to facilitate the influx of illegal Rohingya," refugees into India.

It said many Rohingyas have "illegally" acquired voter identity cards and Permanent Account Number cards required for filing income tax returns and for high-value financial transactions while some are "using the 'hawala' route to raise money for illegal activities".

Earlier, two Rohingya refugees filed a petition challenging a government move green-lighting their deportation. This prompted the government to file the 15-page affidavit before the bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, where the Indian government hinted that the SC shouldn't interfere in executive policy dealing with illegal Rohingya migrants.

Arguing for deportation of Rohingyas, the government said the Rohingya influx began in 2012 and added that there are at present around 40,000 such refugees in the country.

The government also told the top court that deporting Rohingya refugees would be an "executive policy decision" and the Supreme Court must not interfere.

The apex court rejected a plea to issue a notice to India's National Human Rights Commission, headed by a former Supreme Court judge, which opposed deportation of Rohingyas.

The NHRC said it would argue against the deportation of the two Rohingya refugees, Md Salimullah and Md Shakir.

To this, the apex court bench said "We want to first see the legal position. What's the jurisdiction of the court and what kind of jurisdiction can we invoke."

The apex court bench set the next hearing in the case to October 3.

A group of eminent jurists were present in court yesterday to appear for the Rohingya refugees and against their deportation. They included Fali S Nariman, Kapil Sibal, Rajeev Dhawan, Colin Gonsalves, Ashwani Kumar and Prashant Bhushan.