India faces backlash over illegal Muslim deportations to Bangladesh
NEW DELHI: India has deported without trial to Bangladesh hundreds of people, officials from both sides said, drawing condemnation from activists and lawyers who call the recent expulsions illegal and based on ethnic profiling.
New Delhi says the people deported are undocumented migrants.
The Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long taken a hardline stance on immigration -- particularly those from neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh -- with top officials referring to them as 'termites' and 'infiltrators'.
It has also sparked fear among India's estimated 200 million Muslims, especially among speakers of Bengali, a widely spoken language in both eastern India and Bangladesh.
'Muslims, particularly from the eastern part of the country, are terrified,' said veteran Indian rights activist Harsh Mander.
'You have thrown millions into this existential fear.'
Bangladesh, largely encircled by land by India, has seen relations with New Delhi turn icy since a mass uprising in 2024 toppled Dhaka's government, a former friend of India.
But India also ramped up operations against migrants after a wider security crackdown in the wake of an attack in the west -- the April 22 killing of 26 people, mainly Hindu tourists, in Indian-administered Kashmir.
New Delhi blamed that attack on Pakistan, claims Islamabad rejected, with arguments culminating in a four-day conflict that left more than 70 dead.
Indian authorities launched an unprecedented countrywide security drive that has seen many thousands detained -- and many of them eventually pushed across the border to Bangladesh at gunpoint.
- 'Do not dare' -
Rahima Begum, from India's eastern Assam state, said police detained her for several days in late May before taking her to the Bangladesh frontier.
She said she and her family had spent their life in India.
'I have lived all my life here -- my parents, my grandparents, they are all from here,' she said. 'I don't know why they would do this to me.'
Indian police took Begum, along with five other people, all Muslims, and forced them into swampland in the dark.
'They showed us a village in the distance and told us to crawl there,' she told AFP.
'They said: 'Do not dare to stand and walk, or we will shoot you.''
Bangladeshi locals who found the group then handed them to border police who 'thrashed' them and ordered they return to India, Begum said.
'As we approached the border, there was firing from the other side,' said the 50-year-old.
'We thought: 'This is the end. We are all going to die.''
She survived, and, a week after she was first picked up, she was dropped back home in Assam with a warning to keep quiet.
- 'Ideological hate campaign' -
Rights activists and lawyers criticised India's drive as 'lawless'.
'You cannot deport people unless there is a country to accept them,' said New Delhi-based civil rights lawyer Sanjay Hegde.
Indian law does not allow for people to be deported without due process, he added.
Bangladesh has said India has pushed more than 1,600 people across its border since May.
Indian media suggests the number could be as high as 2,500.
The Bangladesh Border Guards said it has sent back 100 of those pushed across -- because they were Indian citizens.
India has been accused of forcibly deporting Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, with navy ships dropping them off the coast of the war-torn nation.
Many of those targeted in the campaign are low-wage labourers in states governed by Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), according to rights activists.
Indian authorities did not respond to questions about the number of people detained and deported.
But Assam state's chief minister has said that more than 300 people have been deported to Bangladesh.
Separately, Gujarat's police chief said more than 6,500 people have been rounded up in the western state, home to both Modi and interior minister Amit Shah.
Many of those were reported to be Bengali-speaking Indians and later released.
'People of Muslim identity who happen to be Bengali speaking are being targeted as part of an ideological hate campaign,' said Mander, the activist.
Nazimuddin Mondal, a 35-year-old mason, said he was picked up by police in the financial hub of Mumbai, flown on a military aircraft to the border state of Tripura and pushed into Bangladesh.
He managed to cross back, and is now back in India's West Bengal state, where he said he was born.
'The Indian security forces beat us with batons when we insisted we were Indians,' said Mondal, adding he is now scared to even go out to seek work.
'I showed them my government-issued ID, but they just would not listen.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
7 hours ago
- The Star
Thai PM visits flood-hit region as 3,700 homes inundated
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra (centre) visiting flood-damaged homes in Phaya Mengrai district in Chiang Rai province on Saturday, June 28. - PHOTO: AFP BANGKOK (AFP) - Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra made an emergency visit on Saturday to the country's flood-hit north, where the military is evacuating residents after monsoon rains inundated thousands of homes. The Royal Thai Army says more than 3,700 homes were flooded across five districts in Chiang Rai province, alongside 80 hectares (200 acres) of agricultural land, with roads made impassable in three areas. Heavy rains are forecast to continue in the coming days, while the military has deployed rafts to ferry residents from their homes engulfed by muddy brown water, according to images shared on their Facebook page. Paetongtarn made a one-day trip to inspect damage in the hardest-hit area of Phaya Mengrai district, 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the Laos border. "The prime minister met with flood-hit communities and asked about their well-being, including access to food, clean water, and care for vulnerable groups," the government said in a statement. Paetongtarn made the visit as she faces mounting pressure in the capital Bangkok, where protesters gathered on Saturday to call for her resignation over a leaked diplomatic phone call. It remains unclear how many people have been impacted by the flooding. However the military said more than 4,400 households had been affected. Thailand's disaster prevention agency said it is closely monitoring water levels and urged communities to move belongings to higher ground in case of flash flooding. While Thailand experiences annual monsoon rains in the third quarter of the year, man-made climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that make destructive floods more likely. Widespread flooding across Thailand in 2011 killed more than 500 people and damaged millions of homes. - AFP
The Star
7 hours ago
- The Star
Singapore has increased its security posture amid rising tensions from Iran-Israel conflict, says national security minister
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Singapore has increased its security posture amid rising tensions from the Iran-Israel conflict, said Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a community event in Nee Soon on June 28, he said: 'There is a ceasefire, but we don't know exactly what will happen after this.' People in this region, other regions, or extremist organisations might want to make a point against Israeli, American or other Western assets, he said, adding that there could be attacks from the far right on Muslim assets. If Singapore is ever attacked, it will make international headlines, he said. There is a possibility of attacks on both sides, he said, either by the far right attacking Muslims, or representative of Muslim countries including Iran, and attacks on Western assets – American, European, Israeli. 'So we have increased our security posture, working off different scenarios, but you know, you can never be absolutely sure,' he added. When asked by the media if there have been more suspicious activities or extreme activities since the US air strikes on Iran nuclear facilities, Shanmugam, who is also Home Affairs Minister, said the authorities have not detected anything here yet. 'But they need to succeed only once,' he said, adding that security is a joint responsibility and Singaporeans will need to be more aware of potential security threats. Addressing the conflict between Iran and Israel, Minister for Defence Chan Chun Sing recently also told media on June 25 that retaliation from Iran may not be limited to targets in America or Israel. Chan said that the retaliation could be anywhere else, and could stoke up emotions in the region. These conflicts have resulted in greater security concerns, he had said. Shanmugam on June 28 also said that the Government is looking at the possible 'outflows' to Singapore, in response to Thailand recently recriminalising cannabis. 'The nexus between drugs and crime, and terrorism, also needs to be looked at.' 'We try to maintain our openness and our connectivity, and our business-friendly environment,' he said. 'It is a bit early to say what is going to happen, but we have to be more careful.' Thailand's health ministry on June 24 issued an order prohibiting the sale of cannabis for recreational use and requiring a doctor's prescription for any retail purchase. Shanmugam said that when Thailand decriminalised cannabis previously, there were many people with more liberal views who asked if Singapore was going to change as well. 'I said the Singapore Government decides not based on what other countries do. We take a hard look, we look at the science, we look at the social impact, and the actual impact and we run the government of Singapore and the policies in the best interests of Singaporeans,' he said. 'And I am absolutely convinced, the Cabinet is absolutely convinced that the right policy is to be strict on drugs, and you can see, the people who asked for liberalisation, are shutting their eyes deliberately to what is happening around the world and the immense harm.' 'We work in the best interests of Singaporeans, and it was the right policy to keep it criminalised, not soften our stance, and that remains the right policy,' he added. - The Straits Times/ANN
New Straits Times
8 hours ago
- New Straits Times
World is going through a new era of conflict escalation
AS India's defence chief attended an international security conference in Singapore in May, soon after India and Pakistan fought what many in South Asia now dub "the four-day war", he had a simple message: Both sides expect to do it all again. However, Indian Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan denied either nation had come close to the "nuclear threshold", describing a "lot of messaging" from both sides. There have been several dramatic examples of escalation in several global stand-offs over the past two months. Recent weeks have witnessed what is now referred to in Israel and Iran as their "12-day war". It ended last week with a US-brokered ceasefire. As events in Ukraine have shown, conflict between major nations can become normalised at speed — whether that means "just" an exchange of drones and missiles, or a more existential battle. More concerning still, such conflicts appear to have become more serious throughout the current decade, with plenty of room for further escalation. This month, that included an audacious set of Ukrainian-organised drone strikes on long-range bomber bases deep inside Russian territory, destroying multiple aircraft which, as well as striking Ukraine, have also been responsible for carrying the Kremlin's nuclear deterrent. Simmering in the background, meanwhile, is the largest and most dangerous confrontation of them all — that between the United States and China. US officials say Beijing has instructed its military to be prepared to move against Taiwan from 2027, potentially sparking a hugely wider conflict. Addressing senators on Tuesday, America's next top commanders in Europe and the Middle East were unanimous in their comments that the US strikes against Iran would strengthen Washington's hand when it came to handling Moscow and Beijing. Chinese media commentary was more mixed. Han Peng, head of state-run China Media Group's North American operations, said the US had shown weakness to the world by not wanting to get dragged into the Iran conflict due to its "strategic contraction". Other social media posts talked of how vulnerable Iran looked, with nationalist commentator Hu Xijn warning: "If one day we have to get involved in a war, we must be the best at it." On that front, the spectacle of multiple US B-2 bombers battering Iran's deepest-buried nuclear bunkers — having flown all the way from the US mainland apparently undetected — will not have gone unnoticed in Moscow or Beijing. Nor will President Trump's not so subtle implications that unless Iran backed down, similar weapons might be used to kill its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or other senior figures, wherever they might hide. None of America's adversaries have the ability to strike without warning in that way against hardened, deepened targets, and the B-2 — now being replaced by the more advanced B-21 — has no foreign equal. In reality, the threat of an overwhelming US military response, and hints of an accompanying switch of US policy to outright regime change or decapitation in Iran, coupled with the Israeli military success against Hizbollah and Hamas, appear to have forced Teheran to largely stand down. What that means in the longer term is another question. Behind the scenes and sometimes in public, US and allied officials say they are still assessing the implications of the success of Ukraine and Israel in infiltrating large numbers of short-range drones into Russia and Iran, respectively, for two spectacular attacks in recent weeks. According to Ukrainian officials, the drones were smuggled into Russia hidden inside prefabricated buildings on the back of trucks, with the Russian drivers unaware of what they were carrying until the drones were launched. Israel's use of drones on the first day of its campaign against Iran is even more unsettling for Western nations. Its drones were smuggled into Iran and, in some cases, assembled in secret there to strike multiple senior Iranian leaders and officials in their homes. As they met in The Hague last week for their annual summit, Nato officials and commanders would have considered what they must do to build their own defences to ensure that they do not prove vulnerable to a similar attack. Judging by reports in the Chinese press, military officials there are now working on the same.
