Why can't PM Narendra Modi accept Rohingya Muslim refugees as his brothers: Asaduddin Owaisi

Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his government's plan to deport Rohingya Muslims refugees staying in India.

Addressing a public gathering, the Lok Sabha MP questioned Modi government's decision to send back the Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, saying if Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen can be allowed to stay in the country, then why can't PM Modi accept Rohingyas as his brothers or friends.

Giving the example of 65,000 Talims refugees staying in India, Owaisi said if we can accommodate them, why not the Rohingyas.

He also raked up the issue of more than one lakh Tibetan refugees in India and the country giving shelter to exiled Tibetan leader the Dalia Lama.

Further hitting out at PM Modi, the AIMIM chief also raised the issue of Chakmas from Bangladesh settled in Arunachal Pradesh.

During the three wars with Pakistan, many refugees from West Pakistan were allowed to enter the country and also given voting rights, then why can't 40,000 Rohingyas stay in a country with a billion plus population, Owaisi questioned.

Owaisi's rhetoric comes after the central government announced that it is planning to deport Rohingya Muslims, who have come to India due to alleged persecution in Myanmar, as it considers them as illegal immigrants.

The issue came to the fore after the Union home ministry in July had said illegal immigrants like the Rohingyas pose grave security challenges as they may be recruited by terror groups, and asked state governments to identify and deport them.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wants Rohingya refugees helped "regardless of politics".

Meanwhile, India on Thursday rushed 53 tonnes of relief materials to Bangladesh and pledged all help to Dhaka in tackling the humanitarian crisis after nearly 400,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees fled to the country from Myanmar following the ethnic violence in the Buddhist-majority nation.

Bangladesh, which is facing a big influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar, has called on the international community to intervene and put pressure on Myanmar to address the exodus.

40% of Rohingyas in Myanmar have fled to Bangladesh: UN

About 40 percent of the total Rohingya population living in the Rakhine State of Myanmar has now fled to Bangladesh, the UN has said.

Since August 25, the number of Rohingya refugees who have crossed the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh has now reached 389,000, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman to the UN Secretary General told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.

Myanmar`s Army launched a crackdown in response to attacks by Rohingya militants on August 25.

A military campaign to wipe out Rohingya insurgents has rained violence down on Myanmar`s Rakhine state.

Around 30,000 Rakhine Buddhists and Hindus have also been displaced, as ethnic and religious hatreds carve through the western state.

The UN has accused Myanmar of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya, a stateless group that the Buddhist-majority country refuses to recognise as citizens.

The government refutes the accusations, instead saying the army has carried out targeted operations to snuff out the militant group, whose attacks on police posts in late August unleashed the massive military response.