Pakistan can use Rohingyas as terrorists, says J&K Deputy CM

Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh on Wednesday said Pakistan can use Rohingyas as terrorists.

The Rohingya people are a Muslim minority group of Rakhine state in Myanmar and have been fleeing from Rakhine since 2015 due to the military's offensive against them.

Addressing a press conference here, Singh said that Rohingyas are foreigners and they illegally entered India.

"In Jammu and Kashmir, Rohingyas are in two districts- Jammu and Samba on the borders. These areas are communally very sensitive. The state government is working on the directions of the Centre on this issue and definitely they have to be shifted from there. Otherwise, there is every potential of Pakistan using them as terrorists. And, there are certain links as we are getting the reports that they are being used as terrorists," Singh told media.

When asked about the mastermind of 26/11 attacks and Lashkar-e-Taiba co-founder Hafiz Saeed's call to Rohingyas to join 'jihad', Nirmal Singh said, "Definitely."

He questioned: Why are they (Rohingyas) in Jammu and Kashmir's areas which are on the borders? What is the design? Which are the organisations that have helped them settling in the border areas of Jammu and Kashmir?

"We are enquiring into it. I won't state the facts here. But, there can be a bigger conspiracy. Pakistan will use it because Pakistani money, Pakistani allurement, Pakistani designs are instrumental in creating such a situation," said the Deputy Chief Minister.

The Myanmar military has launched a fresh offensive against Rohingyas after 12 security forces were killed last month in an attack reportedly carried out by the Rohingya rebels.

Since then, over 400,000 Rohingya have taken shelter in Bangladesh.

The Narendra Modi Government has urged the Supreme Court not to interfere in the Rohingya issue as the move to deport them was a policy decision in the country's larger interests and that some of them were linked to Pakistani spy agency ISI and other terrorist groups.