By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
Nuh (Haryana): After running for their lives from Myanmar and taking shelter in various states of India, the ordeal of Rohingya refugees seems to see no end as a major fire in Nuh district of Haryana consumed 57 shanties, leaving 217 refugees homeless.
The fire started in one of the shanties at 2 pm on Sunday and continued until 4 pm. By the time people could douse the fire, the whole camp was reduced to ashes.
“We were called to give fingerprints in the local SP office and everyone from the camp was there,” recalls Mohammad Alishan a grocery supplier to shops in the Rohingya slums in Nuh district.
“At around 2 pm when a few of us came back to the camp, we saw one Jhuggi on fire and gradually it spread to others. There were cylinders in Jhuggis which made the fire uncontrollable for us,” he told TwoCircles.net.
Alishan’s savings of the last six years were all destroyed and he could only save the pair of clothes he was wearing. The refugees are presently living in a tent provided by the district administration under the open sky.
“It is very hot in here. We are living in open plots. There is no relief as such apart from food and water and we don’t know how and when we will be able to construct our huts again,” Mohammad Hassan, 25 a labourer.
According to Ali Johar, who has been coordinating the relief efforts of NGOs and administration, told TwoCircles.net, “This is the second time that a Rohingya Camp has caught fire in Haryana in last two years. With the soaring temperature and refugees living in open sky amid fasting, we are going to suffer immensely in the coming days.”
He further urged the government and NGOs to come forward to help the refugees by constructing huts for them at the shortest possible time.
Repeated incidents of fire in camps
Last year in April, five huts of Rohingya refugees caught fire in Nangali gaon in Mewat district of Haryana, leading to one person being severely burnt, besides the loss of household materials. The fire had also consumed a portion of a makeshift mosque, a school, and a madrasa. In another similar incident, a fire engulfed more than 8 jhuggis of Rohingya refugees living in Bhagwati Nagar area of Jammu city.
On November 26, 2016, 80 shanties belonging to Rohingya refugees caught fire in Narwal area of Jammu district in which two minor girls and a woman were killed and three others were injured.
Last month on April 15, about 44 huts of Rohingya refugees caught fire in Kalindi Kunj area of Delhi leading to minor burn injuries to two persons besides reducing the shelters to ashes along with a complete loss of household materials. The fire which started in the early hours of that morning had also consumed a makeshift mosque and a madrasa. The camp is being rebuilt by the Zakat Foundation of India (ZFI).
Right-wing involvement raises suspicion
After a Rohingya camp in Delhi was reduced to ashes last month, a member of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), in a tweet claimed responsibility for the burning of the refugee camp.
On April 15, Manish Chandela, the BJYM member had replied to a tweet reporting on the fire in the camp, “Well done by our heroes.”
“Yes we burnt the houses of the Rohingya terrorists,” he had added.
Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan and president AIMMM Navaid Hamid later filed an FIR against the right wing affiliate.
“The fire in Rohingya camps is a cause of concern and there is no doubt that there is a hate environment against the Rohingya in the country created by the people affiliated to Sangh,” Navaid Hamid, president of AIMMM told TwoCircles.net.
“These fire incidents should be thoroughly investigated by the local police,” he added.
At present, there are more than 40,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees living in four Indian states: Jammu, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Delhi.
The hostility against the Rohingya refugees has been growing since the BJP came to power in centre. The narrative of Rohingya being a security threat was initially supported by the BJP unit of Jammu and Kashmir. The Regional Jammu Kashmir National Panthers Party later joined the cause.
On August 19, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued a circular asking all states to identify and deport illegal Rohingya immigrants.
“Illegal migrants are more vulnerable for getting recruited by terrorist organizations. Infiltration from the Rakhine State of Myanmar into Indian Territory, especially in the recent years, besides being a burden on the limited resources of the country also aggravates the security challenges posed to the country,” the document read.
The case is presently being heard in the Supreme Court of India.