APCC spells out roadmap for shelter to Rohingiyas

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Sept 8: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has reiterated its demand for offering shelter to Muslim and Hindu Rohingiyas who have been fleeing Myanmar for in accordance with India’s abode policy on such matters.

Addressing the press at the CLP conference hall at Dispur, Congress MLA and APCC spokesperson Abdul Khaleque said: “The media has misquoted us on the issue of shelter for Rohingiyas in India. We’ve raised the demand for giving shelter to Rohingiyas in India, not Assam. India has the tradition of giving shelter to people fleeing neighbouring countries for life. We gave shelter to refugees from Bangladesh during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. We’ve also given such shelter to Chakmas from Bangladesh and the Dalai Lama from Tibet. Why not such a sympathetic approach be adopted in case of the Rohingyas?”

On the modus operandi to be adopted for giving shelter to Rohigiyas, Khaleque said: “They should be kept in temporary makeshift camps and issued identity cards. There stay in the country should be purely temporary. We’ve an abode policy according to which no foreigners who have entered the State after March 25, 1971 should be allowed to stay in the State. The matter should be tackled in accordance with the Assam Accord.”

Khaleue said: “If need be India should wage a war with its neighbouring countries for the rights of minorities fleeing those countries. If any such wars need any help from the civilians, I’ll be the first to join the Indian army to assist them.”