Rajnath Rohingya meet in Calcutta

Imran Ahmed Siddiqui, TT, New Delhi: Union home minister Rajnath Singh will chair a meeting in Calcutta on December 7 to discuss the Rohingya issue with chief ministers or home ministers of the five states that share borders with Bangladesh.

"The Rohingya issue will figure prominently during the day-long meeting. The home minister is likely to take a slew of decisions to enhance security along the India-Bangladesh border in the light of the heightened threat perception of infiltration by the Rohingya and terrorists," a ministry official said.

Assam, Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram are the five states that share a 4,096km-long international border with Bangladesh.

The meeting comes days after Calcutta police arrested three suspected members of the Ansar-ul-Islam, a banned terror outfit in Bangladesh.

Last week, the director-general of the BSF had said the force had so far not found anything to link the Rohingya with terror groups, weeks after the Centre had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court describing the community members as a security threat.

"India wants to deport the 40,000 Rohingya refugees here but the matter is pending in the top court. At the same time, the Centre wants to ensure they are immediately pushed back if they try to cross the border from Bangladesh," said an official.

Sources said Rajnath was also likely to take up at the meeting cross-border terrorism and other border management issues, such as smuggling of fake currency notes, human trafficking, and smuggling of cattle and narcotics.