India says to deport all Rohingya regardless of U.N. registration

FILE PHOTO: People belonging to Rohingya Muslim community sit outside their makeshift houses on the outskirts of Jammu, May 5, 2017. REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta/File photo

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - All of an estimated 40,000 Rohingya Muslims living in India are illegal immigrants, even those registered with the U.N. refugee agency, and the government aims to deport them, a senior government official told Reuters.

Junior interior minister Kiren Rijiju told parliament last week the central government had directed state authorities to identify and deport illegal immigrants including Rohingya, who face persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.