New Delhi
Describing the illegal Rohingya immigrants as a threat to national security, the NDA Government on Monday defended before the Supreme Court its decision to deport them, saying many of them had linkages with terror outfits in Pakistan and other countries.

“Many of the Rohingya figure in the suspected sinister designs of ISI/ISIS and other extremist groups who want to achieve their ulterior motives in India, including that of flaring up communal and sectarian violence in sensitive areas of the country,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in its much-awaited affidavit. Foreigners did not have the right to reside and settle in any part of India, it added.

“National security considerations rank the highest on the country’s list of priorities given its geopolitical influence in the region and its vulnerability to cross-border infiltrations due to the porous nature of its borders,” the MHA said.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra posted the matter for hearing on October 3 after Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the government’s affidavit would be filed during the course of the day.

Filed in response to a petition by two Rohingya community members against the government’s decision to deport all illegal Rohingya immigrants, the MHA affidavit asserted that such a decision was non-justiciable and should be left to the executive to deal with.

The MHA said there were organised gangs involved in sending the Rohingya into India. “Over and above the said serious security concern already in existence, more disturbing part is that there is an organised influx of illegal immigrants from Myanmar through agents and touts facilitating illegal immigrant Rohingya into India via Benapole-Haridaspur (West Bengal), Hilli (West Bengal) and Sonamora (Tripura), Kolkata and Guwahati. This situation is seriously harming the national security of the country,” the affidavit read.

It sounded a note of caution on attempts to change India’s demography and social structure, which could potentially lead to multiple problems.
According to MHA, the influx started in 2012-13 and currently there were around 40,000 illegal Rohingya in India, mainly in Jammu, Delhi, Mewat and Hyderabad.