NDA govt. looking at foreigners permanent stay in India through prism of religion: Owaisi

HYDERABAD: In the backdrop of the Rohingya issue, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi today alleged that the NDA government was looking at the topic of foreigners seeking to stay in India through the "prism of religion".

Owaisi was responding to a query on the Centre's stance that the Rohingya people staying in the country are not refugees but illegal immigrants."The present Modi government has amended the Foreigners Act. They have amended the Passport Act, wherein they said if a Hindu, a Sikh, a Parsi, or a Buddhist or a Christian who is coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh even without valid papers, even without valid passport, we will give them exemption under the Foreigners Act," he said.

"Now, why is this issue being looked through religious prism wherein this government is practicing that. That is what we are questioning them," Owaisi told reporters here.Owaisi said the issue of security vis-a-vis the Rohingya people in Jammu and Kashmir came up suddenly."Why Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh did not talk about the issue during his recent visit to the state," he said.

Singh, while addressing a seminar organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), said Rohingyas are not refugees who have applied for asylum in India but illegal immigrants who "will be deported"."Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who is supported by the BJP, had made a statement in January that not a single Rohingya living in the state has indulged in militancy," Owaisi said."So, who is telling the truth? You (BJP) are supporting the chief minister," he said.Citing the example of Sri Lankan Tamils, Owaisi, the Hyderabad MP, claimed that the Rohingya Muslims can be shifted from one camp to another if they indulged in any "undesirable activity".

"If such elements are there within the Rohingyas, there is an example of Tamil Nadu wherein at that time, when Sri Lankan Tamilians were living in Chennai, they were picked up and they were kept in more secure camps. That can be done," he said.He claimed that the Rohingya Muslims are "disenfranchised and stateless people".