& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Myanmar migrants set adrift by Thais

Say about 200 men rescued by Indonesian navy from sea

AFP, Idi Rayeuk, Indonesia
Myanmar boat people found off Indonesia said yesterday they had been towed out to sea and set adrift by Thai forces, fuelling allegations which have severely embarrassed Bangkok.
About 200 men from Myanmar's minority Muslim Rohingya community were found huddled in a boat marooned off the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Monday, Indonesian navy officerTedi Sutardi told AFP.
They said they had spent three weeks adrift after the Thais beat them and dumped as many as 10 wooden boats far out to sea with no motors and hardly any provisions after seeking
refuge inThailand.
Human rights groups have said nearly 1,000 Rohingya landed on Thai shores late last year, before being towed out to sea in separate batches with few supplies in mid and late December.
Speaking at a hospital in East Aceh district, one of the survivors told AFP about 20 people had died during the journey from the same boat.
"We were caught by the Thai military along with 1,000 other Rohingya people. We were brought to an island and stayed there for two months before being thrown out to sea on wooden boats without engines," said Rahmat, 43.
"During the journey about 20 people among us died because there was no food and water We performed prayers in the boat for them before we threw the bodies into the sea... Almost every day someone would die."
Fishermen found their boat, which was held together with ropes, and handed the migrant s over to the Indonesian navy.
The allegations against the Thai security forces surfaced last month when boatloads of
* Rohingyas started turning up in Indian and Indonesian waters.
Thailand has vehemently denied the allegations but the latest batch of migrants to have washed up on Sumatra tell identical stories.
“They said Thai authorities towed them out to sea and set them adrift, ’ Sutardi said.
They showed scars from beatings they said they had received at the hands of the Thais, he said.
Migrants found off Sumatra on January 7 also bore scars which they said had been inflicted with wooden sticks and rifle butts.
A doctor at the hospital in East Aceh said 36 migrants were being treated for "severe dehydration and trauma."
Sutardi said the Bengali -speaking migrants claimed they had left their homes in Myanmar's western Arakan stale because they were being forced to embrace Buddhism.
They said the military authorities in the mainly Buddhist country chopped their fingers off if they tried to pray.
Father-of-three Rahmat said that while he feared persecution by the Myanmar authorities, he had left his family to seek work in Thailand.
He begged to remain in mainly Muslim Indonesia and said he would be jailed if sent back to Myanmar.
Myanmar's military rulers effectively deny citizenship rights to the Rohingya, leading to discrimination and abuse and contributing to a regional humanitarian crisis as hundreds try to flee the country by boat every year.
About 650 Rohingya migrants have so far been found drifting in Indonesian a_id Indian waters in January. Scores may still be at sea or dead.
Indonesia and Thailand treat the Rohingya as economic migrants despite pressure from the United Nations refugee agency and independent rights groups to grant them fair and transparent asylum hearings.
Indonesia has said the migrants found on January 7 probably will be repatriated to Myanmar despite their fears of persecution. A foreign ministry spokesman would not comment on the allegations of the latest arrivals
Indonesia has denied the UN refugee agency access to those who arrived on January 7 and has tried to preven t journal -ists from interviewing them. It has also refused to comment on their claims of abuse by Thai security forces.
Amnesty International has demanded that Thailand "stop forcibly expelling Rohingyas" and urged regional governments to grant them frlr hearings.