India is in talks with Bangladesh for the deportation of Rohingya refugees illegally staying in India, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, 25 July.
Singh's deputy Kiren Rijiju also said that as many as 52 illegal Bangladeshis will be deported on 30 July from Assam.
"There has been a discussion with Bangladesh on this issue," Singh said during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha.
The Home Minister further said the Centre has sent an advisory to state governments to identify illegal immigrants and take their biometrics and ensure that they don't have any document to claim Indian citizenship in the future.
"After we get a report from states, we will send it to the external affairs ministry," he added.
Minister of State for Home Rijiju said that India has already approached Myanmar and Bangladesh on the issue of Rohingya refugees.
"Government of India is impressing on them to take back these people. The process will be as per the discussion we have with a sovereign country. I cannot give assurance here," he said, responding to a supplementary question.
The Minister said that under the Foreigners Act, the Centre has powers to identify, detect and deport anyone who is staying illegally in India.
Maintaining that Rohingyas have entered India illegally, Rijiju said they are staying in different states.
As per the security agency report, they are staying in Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, western Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Jaipur, he added.
"The Central government has clearly given directions to states to identify, detect and start the process of deportation of Rohingyas who have entered illegally."
With regard to deportation of illegal Bangladeshis, Rijiju said, "The Bangladesh government has agreed, identified and accepted the identity of 52 people as Bangladeshis. So, they have agreed that these 52 people including one minority will be deported on 30 July at 11 am at Mankachar IPC in Assam."
On another supplementary on keeping Indians in detention camps with an ulterior motive, the minister said no motive can be attached to anybody kept in detention. Only those declared as foreigners by tribunal can be kept in detention camps, he said.
"The government on its own cannot declare anybody as a foreigner and put them in a detention camp," he added.
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