KATHUA : Official sources said on Tuesday that Lodged at a “holding centre” here for the past over two years, over 200 Rohingyas from Myanmar held a protest and clash with guards inside Hiranagar sub-jail demanding their release.A senior police official, however, characterised the demonstration as “normal,” noting that people have been holding demonstrations for their release from the centre for the previous month. The sub-jail that was designated as a “holding centre” for housing unauthorised immigrants on March 5, 2021, is currently housing 271 Rohingyas, including 74 women and 70 children. The official said that a woman’s morning sickness caused the protest to start inside the holding facility. “Senior police and jail officials rushed to the scene, and the situation is under control,” he continued. According to the sources, police used minimal force to scatter the demonstrators who had gathered close to the facility’s main gate. In May, Rohingyas went on an indefinite hunger strike to protest their detention at the centre, but they ended it after being convinced by senior jail and police officials that the issue had been brought up with the Centre and that they would be released or deported as soon as the orders were received. The majority of the detained foreign nationals were discovered to be in Jammu illegally following a specialised verification drive.The Rohingyas are a Muslim minority in Myanmar who speak a Bengali dialect. After experiencing persecution in their own country, many of them illegally crossed into India through Bangladesh and sought refuge in Jammu and other regions of the nation. According to a large number of political parties and social organisations in Jammu, the presence of Bangladeshi and Rohingya people in the area constitutes a “threat to peace” and a “conspiracy to alter the demographic character” of the area. In Jammu and Samba districts of Jammu and Kashmir, where their population expanded by more than 6,000 between 2008 and 2016, there are more than 13,700 foreigners living there, including Rohingya and Bangladeshi people.
