20,000 Refugees Sought Shelter In India This Year, At Least 414 Arrested
NDTV
Given that no refugee law exists in India, the treatment of refugees is guided by geopolitical interest and vote bank politics.
India has about 400,000 refugees, of which 238,222 are recognised, an independent survey has found. About 20,000 refugees including 18,000 from Myanmar, mostly Chins, took shelter in India in 2021. An unaccounted number of Afghan refugees also took shelter in the country this year, it said. 4,557 Afghans were in India on Long Term Visa (LTVs) as of December 2021.
The findings are from the annual report of the Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG), an independent think-tank based in New Delhi.
"There is no accurate data on the number of refugees but India has about 400,000 refugees including 238,222 recognised and documented refugees i.e. Sri Lankan refugees; Tibetan refugees and refugees recognised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); about 31,313 refugees belonging to minority communities from neighbouring countries who have been given LTV on the basis of their claims of religious persecution and want Indian citizenship, and about 123,000 unregistered Chin and Rohingya refugees," Suhas Chakma, Director of the RRAG, said.
In 2021, at least 414 refugees mainly from Myanmar i.e. about 354 Rohingyas and 60 Chins and other ethnic Myanmarese nationals were arrested by the police in various states of India. The highest number of arrests was reported from Jammu and Kashmir with 174, followed by Delhi (95), Assam (55), Manipur (30), Uttar Pradesh and Haryana (19 each), West Bengal (13), Telangana (6) and Tripura (3). Non-Myanmarese refugees like the Tibetans and Sri Lankan Tamils do not face such arrest and detention for illegal entry into India.
