Rohingya militants in Delhi 

In the second week of January 2016, the Delhi Police had unearthed an international syndicate which was sending radicalised Rohingyas and Bangladeshi Muslims to West Asian countries to join the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, in Syria. Five jihadi operators were arrested, among whom two were Bangladesh nationals identified as Shaukat Ali and Suleiman and three were Indian citizens, viz., Saddam Hussein, Ibn-e-Sultan and Amit Bodh Jha.

The raids were carried out by Delhi Police in association with the Hyderabad and West Bengal Police, and overseen by central intelligence agencies. According to the Special Commissioner, Sundari Nanda, of Delhi Police, this module had been active for two years and every month nearly 20 to 25 Rohingyas were being sent via Delhi to West Asia for joining the ISIS cadres.[2] They were paying Rs two lakhs to each Rohingya militant. Approximately 500 Rohingyas had been sent to the Islamic State during this two-year period.[3]

Some lower level functionaries of the Saudi Embassy were alleged to be involved in forging the passports and visas of the infiltrators bound for West Asia. [A brief account of the international plot of sending Rohingyas to West Asia through Delhi has been given in my book, Global War Against Kaffirs: Rise of Islamic State, 2016, pp. 98-100]

It may be recalled that in the second week of April 2012, nearly 2,500 Rohingyas had arrived in the Vasant Vihar neighbourhood of New Delhi. They dumped themselves on the road near the office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and started clamouring for grant of refugee status by the UN agency. When local residents protested, the Delhi government, instead of taking action under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, moved them to Sultan Garhi, where they created unhygienic conditions and became a nuisance.

The residents of the area were forced to go to the High Court for their removal from the locality and High Court directed the government to act as per law, which meant legal action under the Foreigners Act. Meanwhile, some left-oriented journalists started writing sob-stories about their misery and blaming the local residents for hostility towards the so-called refugees. They also blamed the government for not looking after them. Soon some NGOs, including the leftist-dominated students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) rallied to the support of the infiltrators. Ultimately they were allowed to quietly disappear and merge in the country’s population despite the High Court’s order. 

Threat to National Security

The threat to India’s national security posed by Rohingya infiltrators is immense. The long-term impact of their infiltration has to be assessed in the light of the fact that Rohingyas have been deeply soaked in Islamic militancy and guerrilla warfare for the last 72 years. In recent years, they have enlisted massive support from the jihadi outfits operating in Kashmir valley and hordes of fifth columnists and fellow travelers embedded in India’s political universe. On top of it, the financial muscle provided to Rohingya militancy by the Saudi government and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan has the potential to create serious law and order problems.

Nearly 7,000 Rohingyas have managed to travel from Jammu to the Buddhist-dominated Ladakh region, where sooner or later fault line conflicts with Buddhists are bound to erupt. This is a dangerous development. While under Article 370, non-Kashmiri Indian citizens are barred from settling down in the Jammu & Kashmir State, no one cared to prevent or check the illegal Rohingya infiltrators from settling in Jammu and Ladakh!

Rohingya settlements in Jammu and Ladakh show that the time to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution without further delay has arrived! According to reliable sources, some Rohingyas have already joined the militants operating in Kashmir valley. At least one Rohingya militant has been killed by Indian security forces in Kashmir valley, identified as Abdur Rehman al Arkani or ‘Chhota Burmi’. We don’t know if there is a ‘Bada Burmi’, too, waging jihad against our army.

Unconfirmed reports say that nearly 20,000 to 40,000 Rohingyas have already entered Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland. Some of them are staying in Kolkata and Hyderabad as well. Unless the Rohingya onslaught is dealt with firmly, we will have another major security problem on our hands.

It may be recalled that during the US-led campaign against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, several hundred Rohingyas along with Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh (HUJI-B) volunteers from Bangladesh had joined battle against the US coalition. As highlighted by the strategic analyst, late B. Raman, in one of his papers, nearly 24 Rohingya and Bangladeshi mujahideen had been killed while waging jihad in Afghanistan. 

It would be imprudent to openly discuss the details of the measures which ought to be taken to meet the challenge of Rohingya militancy. However, looking at the magnitude of the threat, a comprehensive strategy needs be evolved which should include the following measures: 

-        Start legal action under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act against infiltrators.

-        Compile a database of Rohingya militants by collecting information from the Governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh. 

-        Undertake legal action against the infiltrators; begin with Rohingyas who have travelled all the way to Ladakh and Jammu. 

-        Keep track of the flow of foreign funds from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the oil-rich Sheikhdoms of the Middle East. 

-        Maintain effective vigilance along India’s coastline to ward off the possibility of weapons being smuggled from Pakistan, Myanmar, China and Thailand.

It is learnt that the Central Government and the intelligence agencies have already adopted the necessary counter-terrorism measures to prevent any anti-national activities by the infiltrators.

In conclusion, we may add that apart from Myanmar, the rapidly growing Muslim population has become a major source of stress for the governments of Sri Lanka and Thailand. To counter Islamic aggression in Sri Lanka, a Buddhist counter-terror outfit was born. The Bodhu Bala Sena (BBS) had suggested that the Hindus of India and Buddhists of Sri Lanka should join hands to defeat the design of the jihadis eyeing the capture of the whole of South Asia.

(Concluded)

References

1)      The news item ‘Myanmar State sets 2-child norm limit for Muslims, www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, May 28, 2013.  

2)    Sumit Kumar Singh, ‘Delhi Cops Bust ISIS Terror Recruitment Racket, New Indian Express, New Delhi, January 16, 2016.

3)     Ibid. 

Based on a presentation made at a seminar on “Refugees & Infiltrators: India’s Policy towards them. An Historical Perspective and Some Thoughts on the Current Scenario” at the Indian Council for Historical Research, New Delhi, on 11 October 2017