India sends relief materials for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

NEW DELHI - 14 September 2017: India on Thursday began Operation Insaniyat to provide humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh which is dealing with an influx of tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing the violence in Myanmar, The Times of India reported.

The relief material will be delivered in multiple consignments. The first lot will reach Chittagong today.

India is sending Bangladesh rice, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking oil, tea, ready-to-eat noodles, biscuits, mosquito nets and other essentials.

"India has always responded readily and swiftly to any crisis in Bangladesh, in keeping with the close ties of friendship between the peoples of India and Bangladesh. India stands ready to provide any assistance required by Government of Bangladesh in this hour of need," said a statement from the external affairs ministry.

According to UN estimates, over 379,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state into Bangladesh since August 25 when a fresh wave of violence erupted.

According to media reports, the violence began when Rohingya militants attacked police posts in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state.

Rohingya residents - a stateless mostly Muslim minority in a Buddhist-majority nation - allege that the military and Rakhine Buddhists responded with a brutal campaign against them, according to the reports.