STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: A two-member team of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) met Rohingya Muslims at a slum here amid a heated debate whether the illegally settled immigrants be provided water and electricity.
Senior Protection Officer Tomoko Fukumura along with Protection Associate Ragini Trakroo Zutushi on Monday met the Rohingya Muslims and some local residents in the Kiryani Talab area of Narwal, an official said on Wednesday.
He said the head of the team would return to Delhi on Wednesday evening as their attempt to meet some police officials failed.
According to government data, more than 13,700 foreigners, most of them Rohingyas and Bangladeshi nationals, are settled in Jammu and other districts of Jammu and Kashmir, where their population increased by over 6,000 between 2008 and 2016.
In March 2021, police found more than 270 Rohingyas, including women and children, living illegally in Jammu city during a verification drive and lodged them at a holding centre inside the Kathua sub-jail.
On November 25, Senior Superintendent of Police, city south Jammu, Ajay Sharma said 18 FIRs were registered in a major drive against the landlords renting out their properties to Rohingyas and others without providing information to police as per the order of the district magistrate.
“The civil administration has also launched a drive to identify the people who facilitated electricity and water connections to the plots housing Rohingyas,” Sharma had said.