Though Founder-President of the All-India Ulama & Mashaikh Board (AIUMB), Syed Mohammad Ashraf Kichhauchwi has demanded that the Government of India should shelter the refugees, but Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh from during his recent visit to Jammu & Kashmir the only muslim majority state of the country called for deportation of Rohingya muslim from all parts of the country including Jammu & Kashmir. By all standards of political and human understandabilities Mehbooba Mufti has Chief Minister of the only muslim majority state of the country should not have preferred to remain silent but a critical statement against the proposed deportation of the Rohingya muslim should have come from the Mehbooba Mufti as Chief Minister of the only muslim majority state of the country. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti should have drawn from the recent statement of Syed Salman Chishti, a noted Sufi activist, Dargah Ajmer Sharif who said “Atithi devo bhava (‘the guest is equivalent to God’) is not only a promo for the tourism department but also a well-established and deep-rooted culture of India”. A key question usually overlooked is the silence of the elected Chief Minister of the only muslim majority state of the country- Jammu & Kashmir not stepping up the campaign for the shelter of distressed Rohingyas in muslim dominated parts of India. Instead of seeking shelter for the Rohingya muslims in all parts of the country Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is remaing silent and this overlooking the demand of the Founder-President of the All-India Ulama & Mashaikh Board (AIUMB), Syed Mohammad Ashraf Kichhauchwi.
The deportation of the Rohingyas will be a significant departure from the humane tradition that has shaped India’s foreign policy as well as its position in the global order in the past. Mehbooba Mufti as Chief Minister of the only muslim majority state of the country could have take a cue from the response of India to refugee crisis in the past when it offered shelter to Syrian Christians, the Malabar Jews, or the Parsis of Iran.
Interestingly the other muslim outfits of the country including like the Jamiat ul-Ulama-e Hind (JUH) and Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) have also urged the central government, United Nations and international human rights organizations to help the Rohingya and Mehbooba Mufti as Chief Minister of the only muslim majority state of the country has not even bothered to support the demands for shelter of Rohingyas raised by the All-India Ulama & Mashaikh Board (AIUMB), Jamiat ul-Ulama-e Hind (JUH) and Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH). Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti could easily take a cue from the statement of the Jamiat ul-Ulama-e Hind (JUH) made by it to appeal the United Nations to convene a Security Council meeting to set a deadline for Myanmar to change its attitude towards the Rohingya Muslims. Above all the Rohingya crisis is essentially a human rights issue. Of course, the Indian government’s plan to deport some 40,000 Rohingya will not go down well with the country’s centuries-old pluralistic ethos. Most importantly, the Rohingya refugees deserve shelter and help on humanitarian grounds, and not on the basis of religion. Those trying to determine the refugees’ lot on the basis of religion rather than humanity are the followers of those propagating religious polarization for political purposes in the state and had it not been so BJP the ally of PDP in Jammu & Kashmir won’t seek the permanent resident status for West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs) and deportation of Rohigya muslims from Jammu region . Though India is not a signatory to any international treaties obligating it to offer refuge, it has always sheltered refugees fleeing conflict and disaster, be they be Syrian Christians, the Malabar Jews, or the Parsis of Iran who fled persecution. Therefore, the deportation of the Rohingyas will be a significant departure from the humane tradition that has shaped India’s foreign policy as well as its position in the global order in the past. Mehbooba Mufti as Chief Minister of the only muslim majority state of the country could have take a cue from the response of India to refugee crisis in the past when it offered shelter to Syrian Christians, the Malabar Jews, or the Parsis of Iran.