New Delhi, June 4: In a bid to crack down on illegal Rohingya settlers in the nation, the Centre has issued an advisory to all states, including Jammu & Kashmir, warning against the issuance of Aadhaar card to them. The central government has also ordered their state counterparts to record the biometric details of the refugees and confine them to designated camps.

The biometric details, along with the other information related to their identity, is being tabulated by the Centre to share with Myanmar in case of a likely repatriation. For the same purpose, the government wants them to be confined to pre-identified locations.

In a separate letter written to the J&K government's chief secretary on Saturday, the Home Ministry warned against the vulnerability of Rohingya settlers. The refugees are feared to be radicalised and recruited by secessionist groups operating in the Valley. Notably, the maximum number of Rohingya refugees are settled in Jammu.

According to MHA estimates, there are around 40,000 illegal Rohingya refugees in the nation. 7,096 among them are settled in camps in Jammu, 3,059 in Hyderabad, 1,114 in Mewat (Haryana), 1,200 in western Uttar Pradesh, 1,061 in Delhi (Okhla) and 400 in Jaipur.

The directive seeking biometric details and confinement of Rohingya refugees comes after a September 2017 advisory which asked states to detect and report illegal Rohingya refugees for deportation. The deportation order, however, has been stuck in logjam as senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan moved the Supreme Court challenging its legality. The matter is currently being heard by the apex court.

Former ambassador to Dhaka, Veena Sikri, claims the Centre was justified in issuing the deportation orders. "The issue is linked to India's internal security. The Rakhine region (from where the Rohingyas have immigrated) has been strategically used by the al-Qaeda and ISI," she had said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 04, 2018 10:22 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).