Expressing solidarity with the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar, several organisations today took out protest rallies in different parts of the city against what they termed as the "genocide" of Rohingya Muslims in the neighbouring country.
An all party protest meeting was also organised at Nampally here condemning the killings of Rohingya Muslims which was addressed among those by CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy and senior Congress leader Mohd Ali Shabbir.
Holding placards that read "Stop killings of innocent Rohingya Muslims in Burma", "Stop genocide of Rohingyas", members of city-based organisations Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) and Darsgah Jihad-O-Shahadat (DJS) and other organisations protested in different parts of the city.
They raised slogans besides burning effigies of Myanmar's state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had recently said the Rohingyas, whether they are registered under the UNHCR or not, are "illegal immigrants in India and hence they stand to be deported".
The Rohingyas Muslim minority in the Rakhine state of Myanmar have been fleeing to Bangladesh and India amid reports of alleged ethnic purging and persecution.
According to estimates, Hyderabad is home to about 3,600 Rohingyas, taking shelter under a UNHCR programme.
"They are not willing to go back to Myanmar," a volunteer with an NGO working for them said requesting anonymity.
Sources in the Rohingya camp here say they are apprehensive about their future if they are deported and fear that they would be killed or subjected to torture back home.
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