People without a Country

Authint Mail |

23 December 2013 - 11:26AM GMT |

Reportage

A Rohingya child at Kiryana Talaab camp in Jammu waiting for his father and mother to return home.

Wasif Ali

The long journey to Jammu city began in 2003 for Haroon Rashid when he had just married a neighborhood girl in his Alegan village of Burma. For the persecuted Rohingya Muslims living in the largely military controlled State, it is mandatory to keep the authorities informed about every development in their life, even if a pregnant cow delivers.
Haroon, a medium-built man with a round face and dark complexion, was busy in making pre-marital arrangements and somehow forgot to inform the authorities or police about his marriage 
“It was a big mistake,” he says.
On the eight day of marriage, a contingent of armed police personnel looking for Haroon surrounded Alegan village. When he came out of his house, two police personnel dragged him to a nearby police vehicle and put him in a jail. 
“I spent six months in jail where I was subjected to all kinds of humiliation and torture. I had to pay Rs 1 lakh so that they could set me free,” Haroon says in a muffled voice.
After purchasing his freedom, Haroon chalked out a strategy to escape the persecution by Army in their own country. On the second day of his release, around 60 other Rohingya Muslims from twelve families - all victim of state excesses -

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