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New Delhi, India– A fire destroyed the Rohingya refugee camp in New Delhi, the capital of India, leaving hundreds of people homeless.
The fire broke out at around 11:30 on Saturday night and quickly spread to the entire camp, turning 55 crumbling shelters in the Madanpur Khadar district south of the capital to ashes. There were no reports of death or serious injuries in the fire-this is the second time the camp has been reduced to ashes since 2018.
The fire department of the capital said that 15 fire trucks have been put into use and the fire was under control within about 6 hours. “We rushed to the scene and started extinguishing the flames,” Sandip, operator of the Delhi fire station, told Al Jazeera by phone on Sunday.
The fire destroyed the camp, where there were 55 families-when refugees scrambled for help, the sky was filled with smoke and flames.
After a fire broke out in the Madanpur Khadar camp last night, more than 53 Rohingya families were left homeless @SaketGokhale @harsh_mander They need help pic.twitter.com/xzcIXS5mL8
— Ashima Sharma (@AshimaS4) June 13, 2021
When the fire broke out, Sufia Khatoon, 32, was sleeping in her cabin with her unsound mother and her children. She said it started in an abandoned hut.
“When we saw the fire, I took my mother’s hand, held the child in my arms, and ran to a safe area outside the camp,” Katun said. “We lost everything. The fire destroyed even the small amount of cash we kept for daily needs. We didn’t have one [Indian] Rupee to buy water. “
She appealed to the government and rescue groups to help with food and shelter.
Undocumented refugee
Delhi-based activist Asif Mugitaba told Al Jazeera that his organization was one of the first to provide relief immediately after the flames extinguished.
Mujitaba said: “We transferred people in need of medical treatment to nearby hospitals and arranged water and food for the refugees,” he added, adding that he is in contact with officials to help them establish temporary arrangements for them in the scorching summer. Relief camp. “We are still drawing detailed information about the families that suffered losses in the fire,” he said.
Another volunteer, Ahmad Kamal, opened the door of a nearby dormitory to shelter some Rohingya and provide them with food and water.
“We are hungry. Some people come here in the morning to give us bananas and milk,” said Tayyab Begum, a 45-year-old refugee.
There are an estimated 40,000 Rohingya refugees, many of whom are believed to be undocumented, living in refugee camps in Indian cities, including Jammu, Hyderabad and Nuh. The UN Refugee Agency has provided refugee cards to some of them, which helps them to obtain some basic services and should protect them from police actions.
In 2017, more than 750,000 Rohingya took refuge in Bangladesh after the Burmese army brutally suppressed the Muslim minority. They have been persecuted by the Burmese authorities for decades. Bangladesh currently holds more than 1 million Rohingya in narrow and dirty camps on the border with Myanmar.
Large numbers of Rohingya also fled to neighboring Asian countries, including India and Malaysia.
At the time of the fire, the Indian government was suppressing Rohingya refugees living in the country. In March, police in Jammu and New Delhi imprisoned more than 200 refugees, claiming that they were living in the country “illegal”.
India’s Hindu nationalist government has stated that it will deport Rohingya refugees to Myanmar in violation of the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits a country from repatriating refugees to a country where they will face torture. Human rights groups warned against deporting Rohingya to Myanmar, which also experienced a military coup in February.
Currently, their deportation has been blocked by the Supreme Court of India. But 300 refugees are still in prison.
What caused the fire?
Although the police have launched an investigation into the fire, some refugees do not rule out sabotage.
“Obviously, the cause of the fire was a short circuit,” Delhi police investigator Bharat Singh told Al Jazeera at the camp.
“Forensic experts collected wire samples from the scene to determine the cause behind the fire.”
However, the shelter stated that the possibility of “deliberate arson” in the camp cannot be ruled out because men belonging to the Hindu right-wing group had previously been accused of arson in the camp.
Caton, a refugee who fled with his mother and children, said that the hut that caught fire had no electricity or cables.
Volunteers provide food for refugees after the Rohingya refugee camp in New Delhi was destroyed by fire [Meer Faisal/Al Jazeera]
Another Rohingya, 38-year-old Mohammad Farooq (Mohammad Farooq) said that a few hours before the fire, some masked men had arrived at the camp and told the refugees to evacuate the land. They ignored it, thinking this was just another warning they often faced.
“We don’t know if someone lit the fire or it happened naturally, but we want to tell these people,’What do you get when you oppress us?'” Farouk said. “We are humans just like you, and we also have children like you.”
The Hindu organization that supports the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been fighting for the deportation of Rohingya refugees, saying that they pose a security threat to India and want to occupy the land.
“Such incidents happen frequently, and this is the third time the camp has caught fire this year. We suspect someone is behind it,” said Ali Johar, an activist in the Rohingya community in New Delhi.
“We often hear threats from people, including the authorities, saying that we will level your camp.”
Rohingya refugees take refuge by the wall after being destroyed by fire in a camp in New Delhi [Meer Faisal/Al Jazeera]
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