ROHINGYAPHOBHIA AND INDIAN DILEMMA
Rohingya issue is not new it is almost known to everyone and describing their history will be just waste of time and this time could be utilized in thinking what should be done for that community which is facing the worst time ever.
Recent visit of Indian Prime Minister to Myanmar have given fire to the long driven struggle for identity and it has been increasing at a very large pace and have shown it's violent face too in past.
Community specific discrimination has always been seen in many states weather it may be Nepal, Srilanka, Afghanistan, India and many other countries including USA.
This type of identity and selective endorsements has always been due to the political benefits and loss of life is just a day to day business for those who are taking the butter out if it. The conditions are so critical in central region of the world and impact is on the whole world none of the country is left with the splash of this oil of hate.
More than 1 lakh Rohingyas, victims of a new surge of violence in Myanmar, are fleeing the country and pouring into Bangladesh, while 30,000 people are still trapped near the border. At the same time, Indian Prime Minister has announced that 40,000 Rohingya refugees are to be deported. A plea against this decision, made by two Rohingya asylum seekers in Delhi, is being reviewed by Supreme Court of India.
According to those supporting the government move, deporting the Rohingya refugees is necessary as their continued presence would encourage Islamic fanaticism. It have been a concern that India may be affected by the terror activities and other form of crimes at the border regions.
But how can India, a country which has hosted refugees ever since its foundation as a nation, deport thousands of people based on their ethnicity and faith? India’s refugee policy could provide further insight.
India has been hosting large numbers of refugees without any specific law in place since 1971, when a massive flow of people came from war-torn Bangladesh. It relied on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recommendations – or what is also also called customary international law. According to the UN India takes around 150,000 to 200,000 people a year.
In the first half of 2014, the UN Refugee agency counted more than 2m people as refugees living in India. They arrived during peak migration crises and conflicts, including partition in 1947, the Tibet crisis of 1959, the creation of Bangladesh 1971, civil wars in Sri Lanka and wars in Afghanistan.
Refugees not only come from devastated neighbours but also from African and Middle Eastern Countries.
To counter such flows, the Indian government developed a new strategy last year. It has proposed amending the Citizenship Act of 1955 and make the naturalisation process easier – except for displaced persons of Muslim faith.
The new bill would indeed benefit people belonging to Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Zoroastrian and Sikh faith, which are considered minority religions in their countries of origin, such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, but not Muslims persecuted in their countries of origin, such as the Burmese Rohingyas. Hence the latest proposal to deport Rohingya.
There are also more than 400 Pakistani Hindu refugee settlements in major Indian cities. These are mainly in Gujarat and Rajasthan – states that border Pakistan.
Other groups who could benefit from the new special status comprise indigenous tribes such as Buddhist Chakmas and Hindu Hajongs from Bangladesh.
Yet, Muslim minorities are also regularly mistreated and seek refuge. Ahmadiyya Muslims, who follow a 19th century prophet Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, face persecution in Pakistan and in Bangladesh. Similarly, Hazaras (mainly found in Afghanistan and Pakistan) are persecuted.
In today’s Myanmar, Rohingya Muslims face the wrath of right-wing Buddhist monks and ideologists. In Sri-Lanka, Tamil Muslims are also discriminated against by hardliners who want to impose a Buddhist supremacy. People from such backgrounds have fled to India. But, according to the new bill, they will not be granted refugee status.
The new proposal infringes the right to equality guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution of India. This prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, caste, creed, sex or place of birth. It contradicts other fundamental freedoms too.
For example, India grants full protection and assistance through the UNHCR to people (non-Muslims) from Sri Lanka and Tibet, helping them to get documents with a range of legal benefits. On the other hand, refugees from Myanmar, Palestine, and Somalia, Sudan are seldom helped.
Instead of being pointed to as the country that deported thousands of helpless people such as the Rohingyas, India could actually become a model for South Asia with regard to the treatment of refugees.
For instance, it could use the auspices of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to consider the January 2004 South Asian Declaration on the Refugees and Eminent Persons Group’s proposal that formulated an ideal lawrespecting global human rights standards.Based on international conventions and on 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees it expanded the definition of “refugee”. And India needs a law with a faith-free definition of refugee status to ensure all can be granted security in the world’s most religiously diverse country and could take measures for the safety of the rights of the native citizens also so that nobody could fetch their rights because ultimately first right on the resources of tge country is of the native citizens and there is always a place remains that is the Humanitarian Grounds and India as a nation have shown this many times because as the time will pass things will go more worsen and it will be definitely impacting India and India could set example for others and evolve as a global leader.
Community specific discrimination has always been seen in many states weather it may be Nepal, Srilanka, Afghanistan, India and many other countries including USA.
This type of identity and selective endorsements has always been due to the political benefits and loss of life is just a day to day business for those who are taking the butter out if it. The conditions are so critical in central region of the world and impact is on the whole world none of the country is left with the splash of this oil of hate.
More than 1 lakh Rohingyas, victims of a new surge of violence in Myanmar, are fleeing the country and pouring into Bangladesh, while 30,000 people are still trapped near the border. At the same time, Indian Prime Minister has announced that 40,000 Rohingya refugees are to be deported. A plea against this decision, made by two Rohingya asylum seekers in Delhi, is being reviewed by Supreme Court of India.
According to those supporting the government move, deporting the Rohingya refugees is necessary as their continued presence would encourage Islamic fanaticism. It have been a concern that India may be affected by the terror activities and other form of crimes at the border regions.
But how can India, a country which has hosted refugees ever since its foundation as a nation, deport thousands of people based on their ethnicity and faith? India’s refugee policy could provide further insight.
India has been hosting large numbers of refugees without any specific law in place since 1971, when a massive flow of people came from war-torn Bangladesh. It relied on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recommendations – or what is also also called customary international law. According to the UN India takes around 150,000 to 200,000 people a year.
In the first half of 2014, the UN Refugee agency counted more than 2m people as refugees living in India. They arrived during peak migration crises and conflicts, including partition in 1947, the Tibet crisis of 1959, the creation of Bangladesh 1971, civil wars in Sri Lanka and wars in Afghanistan.
Refugees not only come from devastated neighbours but also from African and Middle Eastern Countries.
To counter such flows, the Indian government developed a new strategy last year. It has proposed amending the Citizenship Act of 1955 and make the naturalisation process easier – except for displaced persons of Muslim faith.
The new bill would indeed benefit people belonging to Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Zoroastrian and Sikh faith, which are considered minority religions in their countries of origin, such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, but not Muslims persecuted in their countries of origin, such as the Burmese Rohingyas. Hence the latest proposal to deport Rohingya.
There are also more than 400 Pakistani Hindu refugee settlements in major Indian cities. These are mainly in Gujarat and Rajasthan – states that border Pakistan.
Other groups who could benefit from the new special status comprise indigenous tribes such as Buddhist Chakmas and Hindu Hajongs from Bangladesh.
Yet, Muslim minorities are also regularly mistreated and seek refuge. Ahmadiyya Muslims, who follow a 19th century prophet Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, face persecution in Pakistan and in Bangladesh. Similarly, Hazaras (mainly found in Afghanistan and Pakistan) are persecuted.
In today’s Myanmar, Rohingya Muslims face the wrath of right-wing Buddhist monks and ideologists. In Sri-Lanka, Tamil Muslims are also discriminated against by hardliners who want to impose a Buddhist supremacy. People from such backgrounds have fled to India. But, according to the new bill, they will not be granted refugee status.
The new proposal infringes the right to equality guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution of India. This prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, caste, creed, sex or place of birth. It contradicts other fundamental freedoms too.
For example, India grants full protection and assistance through the UNHCR to people (non-Muslims) from Sri Lanka and Tibet, helping them to get documents with a range of legal benefits. On the other hand, refugees from Myanmar, Palestine, and Somalia, Sudan are seldom helped.
Instead of being pointed to as the country that deported thousands of helpless people such as the Rohingyas, India could actually become a model for South Asia with regard to the treatment of refugees.
For instance, it could use the auspices of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to consider the January 2004 South Asian Declaration on the Refugees and Eminent Persons Group’s proposal that formulated an ideal lawrespecting global human rights standards.Based on international conventions and on 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees it expanded the definition of “refugee”. And India needs a law with a faith-free definition of refugee status to ensure all can be granted security in the world’s most religiously diverse country and could take measures for the safety of the rights of the native citizens also so that nobody could fetch their rights because ultimately first right on the resources of tge country is of the native citizens and there is always a place remains that is the Humanitarian Grounds and India as a nation have shown this many times because as the time will pass things will go more worsen and it will be definitely impacting India and India could set example for others and evolve as a global leader.
About Author : Shubham
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