Rohingya Muslims are not 'refugees': Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday reiterated that government is firm in its decision to deport Rohingya Muslim refugees to Myanmar.

While justifying Centre's stand to send back the Rohingyas, Singh stated, "Principle of non-refoulement applies on those who have taken asylum in India," adding that "no Rohingya has applied for asylum in India till date."

"People should understand that one aspect of illegal immigration of Rohingyas is related with the national security," the Home Minister asserted.

Taking a strong position on the reported criticism of the government's stand on the issue, Singh said, "India won't be violating any international law by deporting Rohingyas from India, as it isn't a signatory to 1951 UN Refugee Convention."

Coming down hard on the people raising voice against the deportation of Rohingyas, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said that one shouldn't mistaken illegal immigrants with people residing with refugee status.

"The Rohingyas who have illegally entered India are not refugees," Singh categorically said, adding that there is a proper process to get refugee status, which neeeds to be followed.

The Centre on Monday 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.

The government had informed the Parliament on August 9 that according to available data, more than 14,000 Rohingyas, registered with the UNHCR, were staying in India.

However, some inputs indicate that around 40,000 undocumented Rohingyas were staying in India, mostly in Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan regions.