Illegal Rohingya migrants, who have been living in the Holding Center in Jammu and Kashmir’s Hiranagar town for the past two years, clashed with the police on Tuesday morning, resulting in injuries to both parties.
Clashes erupted after police went to rescue the center’s manager and two other workers who were being held by inmates, senior police officials said, adding that nearly half a dozen officers were injured in stone-pelting by Rohingya.
The situation was brought under control by 11 am. after the police and Central Reserve Police Force deployed in the center resorted to lathi charge and used tear gas shells to control the unruly Muslim mob. Officials said the detention center’s staff were rescued by the jail inmates.
A dozen Rohingya were also injured in the clashes. According to a senior police official, many of them sustained injuries due to stones thrown by the protesters standing behind.
The atmosphere in the Kathua District Detention Center has been tense since May last year, with inmates staging protests and hunger strikes at regular intervals. There are currently 271 Rohingya living there, including 74 women and 70 children (many born in the center).
The trouble broke out when the workers of the center, who opened the barracks in the morning, fell into the hands of Rohingyas demanding their release. As the news spread, a police patrol from the Hiranagar police station rushed to the spot, but they were attacked with stones.
Later, Kathua SSP Shiv Deep Singh Jamwal along with other police and jail officials reached the center to assess the situation and said that the situation is now under control.
The center was a sub-jail before the Jammu & Kashmir government declared it a “prison” on March 5, 2021, housing illegal immigrants from Myanmar under Section 2(b) of the Citizenship Act 1955. Some of the detainees have been there since March 6, 2021, when both the Center and the Jammu and Kashmir government began moving Rohingya illegally staying in Jammu to the detention center.
However, their deportation could not be done as the Supreme Court in April 2021 ordered that those arrested in Jammu cannot be deported without due process. The detainees demanded their immediate release to return to their family members, including their children, in Rohingya settlements outside the center.
