All commoners not terrorists: Mamata on Rohingya issue

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted that all Rohingyas are not terrorists even as the central government stuck to its stand of deporting the embattled community and said that some of them were linked to Pakistani terrorist groups.

"All commoners are not terrorists. Some may be terrorists and they will be considered as terrorists. There is a distinction between terrorists and commoners. In every community, there can be good people and bad ones but a community is a community," Banerjee said here.

The central government told the Supreme Court not to interfere in the Rohingya issue as it was a policy decision to deport them and that some of them were linked to Pakistani terrorist groups.

As the apex court heard a petition challenging their deportation to Myanmar, the central government told the judges this was an "essential executive" decision taken in the larger national interest.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju on Monday said the government's stand to deport Rohingya refugees was in the nation's interest.

The Trinamool Congress supremo, however, said innocents should not suffer.

"If any terrorist is there, the government has to take action against them but the commoners should not suffer. This is humanity. If commoners suffer, humanity will suffer," she said.

Banerjee said the central government has asked the state government to formulate a list of the refugees.

"They (central government) asked us to list out the children and others and send the list, for deportation. Our child commission does not agree to it," she added.