Rohingya refugees issued passports, alleges Aravind

‘TRS government not reacting to the scam’

February 22, 2021 12:12 am | Updated 12:14 am IST - HYDERABAD

Lawyers protesting the killing of their colleagues on Sunday.

Lawyers protesting the killing of their colleagues on Sunday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has alleged a nexus between the ruling Telangana Rastra Samiti (TRS) and “certain officers” in the police department in issuing passports to Rohingyas refugees.

“About 32 passports have been issued from a single address in Nizamabad constituency and another 40 from Bodhan -- but the government is silent about this. This is a matter of national security,” claimed Member of Parliament D. Aravind on Sunday.

The MP charged that the refugees moved to Bangladesh from Myanmar first and then to West Bengal. He accused the Mamata Banerjee government of issuing Aadhaar cards.

The passports have been issued after they migrated to Telangana with the “active connivance” of the government here, he claimed at a press conference.

Mr. Aravind read out, what was purported to be a police investigation report into the activities of the Rohingya refugees which said that they have been involved in many criminal activities. The extent of the illegally obtained passports came into the open only when alert customs personal at the international airport quizzed them on noticing their “peculiar accent” whereas the police department, which actually verifies the addresses, had been clueless, he alleged.

The TRS government had not reacted to the passport scam so far despite the “grave threat” to national security. “What is the Home Minister doing? What has his government done to the minority community so far? Is there any change in their living standards except for perpetuating vote bank politics?,” he questioned.

Rally

Meanwhile, earlier in the morning, the legal cell of the party took out a rally at the Secunderabad courts demanding justice to the slain lawyer couple near Manthani and arrest of the culprits responsible.

Slogans of - we want Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to respond, we want justice, we condemn the government murders, it is a shame critics of this regime are being silenced - were raised and a delegation also proceeded towards Gunjapadugu village of Manthani constituency to meet the family of Vaman Rao.

Party MLA T. Raja Singh demanded the government unravel the conspirators behind the murders as the lawyer couple had also filed public interest litigation against the Kaleshwaram irrigation project.

“The police did not react even when the couple informed about the threats to their lives. Those who had benefitted from the corrupt deals in the project have decided to kill them so we need to investigate deep. We are for a CB-CID probe. We do not have confidence in the local police as the pace of investigation is too slow,” he said

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