Mamata Banerjee urges UN to help Rohingya Muslims

Expressing concern over the plight of Rohingya Muslims, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday came out in support of the refugees and asked the United Nations (UN) to help them.

Expressing her views over the issue, Mamata took to Twitter stating that "We do support the @UN appeal to help the Rohingya people. We believe that all commoners are not terrorists. We are really concerned".

Earlier in the day, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the Centre will file an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Monday on its plans to deport Rohingya Muslims.

More than, 3,80,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees have fled Myanmar and reached Bangladesh after a crackdown by Myanmarese security forces in response to an attack on a military outpost by Rohingya militants on August 25. And around 40,000 Rohingyas are staying in India illegally and the Rohingyas are largely located in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.

Last month, the West Bengal government had announced that it would distribute identity cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to Rohingya children lodged in juvenile justice homes across the state after UNHCR officials in India wrote to the West Bengal government.