GUWAHATI, Sept 12 : More than 100 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar including women and children have been on hunger strike since Monday to protest at their indefinite detention at a camp in northeastern India, authorities told Reuters.
More than one million Rohingya refugees fled to countries including Bangladesh and India after a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. They have little hope of returning home, where they are largely denied citizenship and basic rights.
The protesters include about 103 Rohingya Muslims and 30 Christian Chin refugees, also from Myanmar, and many have refugee cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said a Rohingya who is in touch with the protesters in Matia Transit Camp in Assam state.
The camp is India's largest detention centre for undocumented migrants who enter India illegally.
"Many of them have finished their terms, but are still stuck in detention. They are not criminals, they fled persecution," the person said, adding that 36 Rohingya protesters possessed UNHCR cards. —REUTERS
