Water supply will not be snapped to Rohingyas living in Jammu: J&K minister

Jammu, Dec 7 (PTI) Amid an ongoing drive against Rohingya Muslims here, Jammu and Kashmir Jal Shakti Minister Javed Ahmed Rana on Saturday said the water supply will not be snapped to the slums housing the illegal immigrants, pending a call from the Centre on their deportation.

Rana’s statement came after Rohingyas living on three plots of land in Narwal area of Jammu claimed that their power and water supply was snapped recently by the administration.

“The government is duty-bound to ensure water supply to all human beings. We will ensure water supply to them (Rohingyas) on humanitarian grounds till the government of India takes a call on their issue,” Rana, who is also minister for forest, ecology and environment, and tribal affairs, told PTI.

The minister said he will take up the disconnection issue with the officials.

“Water cannot be stopped to anyone, it is the requirement of all living beings,” the minister said, expressing surprise over the alleged snapping of water supply to a few plots housing Rohingyas by the department.

According to government data, more than 13,700 foreigners, most of them Rohingyas (illegal immigrants from Myanmar) and Bangladeshi nationals, are settled in Jammu and other districts of Jammu and Kashmir, where their population increased by over 6,000 between 2008 and 2016.

In March 2021, police found over 270 Rohingyas, including women and children, living illegally in Jammu city during a verification drive and lodged them in a holding centre inside the Kathua sub-jail.

On November 25, Senior Superintendent of Police, South Jammu, Ajay Sharma said a total of 18 FIRs were registered in a major drive against the landlords renting out their properties to Rohingyas and other illegal immigrants without providing information to police as per the order of district magistrate.

“The civil administration has also launched a drive to identify the people who facilitated electricity and water connections to the plots housing Rohingyas,” Sharma had said.

Amir Hussain, a Rohingya living in one of the slums in Narwal, alleged that the government has snapped the water and power supply to three plots over the past week.

“We are registered with UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and have nowhere to go. We are living in a pathetic condition and request the government to allow us to stay here for the time being till the security situation in our country improves,” he said.

Salamatullah, also a resident of Myanmar, said they have no problem living without electricity but water is a necessity for living.

“Electricity was not available to us in our country. We have used electricity for the first time in Jammu,” he said, adding the government drive has left them upset.

“Our landlords are also perturbed after an FIR was registered against him and he wants us to vacate the land. The future of our children is bleak because we cannot enrol them in schools, while some of us have been jailed over the past three years,” he said.