Hundreds of displaced Rohingya refugees in Indian-administered Kashmir have begun demolishing their own makeshift shanties following mounting eviction pressure and threats of detention by local authorities, Al Jazeera reported.
The vulnerable community members, who fled brutal military clearance operations in Myanmar nearly a decade ago, are stripping corrugated iron roofs, bamboo poles and tarpaulins from their dwellings on the outskirts of Jammu in a desperate bid to salvage building materials before police move in.
Shanties dismantled under administrative pressure
According to reports from the region, scores of families living across informal settlements in the Jammu district were served verbal ultimatums to vacate the plots or face forced removal. Local landlords, who had leased parcelled plots to the refugees for modest monthly rents, have reportedly come under intense administrative scrutiny to terminate tenancy agreements.
Fearing immediate transfer to holding facilities or punitive detention, many families opted to tear down their shelters themselves. Possessions—ranging from cooking utensils and bedding to water containers—have been piled along muddy roadsides as displaced households ponder an uncertain future without alternative accommodation.
Mounting hostility in Jammu’s contested territory
Jammu has hosted one of the largest concentrations of Rohingya refugees in India, with an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 people settling in the region since 2012. However, the presence of the predominantly Muslim community has become deeply politicised within the federally administered territory.
Local political factions and nationalist groups have repeatedly agitated for the expulsion of the refugees, alleging without evidence that the community poses a security hazard in an already volatile, disputed border region. The political pressure has translated into systematic crackdowns over recent years, marked by verification drives, biometric profiling and periodic detentions.
Dozens of Rohingya men and women from Jammu are already detained in the Hiranagar sub-jail, which was redesignated as a holding centre in 2021. Those held face indefinite confinement awaiting deportation, a prospect that terrifies the community given the ongoing civil conflict and persecution in Myanmar under the ruling military junta.
Precarious legal standing across India
The evictions underscore the fragile status of roughly 40,000 Rohingya residing across India. New Delhi is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention nor its 1967 Protocol, and the government does not legally recognise refugee cards issued by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Instead, Indian immigration legislation classifies undocumented refugees as illegal immigrants liable for arrest, prosecution and deportation under the Foreigners Act. Rights advocates note that this framework denies asylum seekers basic safeguards against refoulement—the internationally prohibited return of individuals to countries where they face torture or death.
With no designated transit camps, municipal shelters or state support provided to those evicted in Jammu, humanitarian monitors warn that displaced families face severe hardship. Women, the elderly and small children are particularly exposed, left without clean sanitation or potable water as regional authorities continue their drive to clear the informal settlements.
