Seeking to deport Rohingya Muslims, India tells top court has evidence of militant links

Home ministry claims It has information on Rohingya involvement in plots by Da'ish and other 'extremist groups'

NEW DELHI:

India’s home ministry said on Monday it would confidentially share intelligence information with the Supreme Court showing Rohingya links with regional militants, in a bid to get legal clearance for plans to deport 40,000 Rohingya Muslims.

The apex court is hearing an appeal lodged on behalf of Rohingya against the deportation plan proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government.

India’s home ministry submitted an affidavit to the court arguing that the hardline stance was justified by the security threat posed by illegal immigrant Rohingya, hundreds of thousands of whom have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh, from where many have crossed into India.

The ministry said the illegal influx of large numbers of Rohingya into India began four to five years ago, long before an exodus that saw more than 400,000 Rohingya flee to Bangladesh since Aug 25 to escape a Myanmar military counter-insurgency offensive that the United Nations has called “ethnic cleansing”.

The affidavit went on to say the government had reports from security agencies and other authentic sources indicating linkages of some of the unauthorised Rohingya immigrants with regional countries' terror organisations.

It also said there was information on Rohingya involvement in plots by Islamic State and other “extremist groups” to ignite communal and sectarian violence in India.

Senior home ministry official Mukesh Mittal said the Indian government would privately show the court material gathered from “sensitive investigations” to substantiate the claims in its affidavit.