navhindtimes
NRIpress
A certain minister once claimed that members of the West
Bengal cabinet were all refugees! A NRI friend of mine with
an expired visa was suddenly termed as a refugee by various
people around her.India is a not a signatory to the UN Refugee
Convention and does not have a national legislation regarding
refugees. Here a refugee is often confused with an immigrant.
What can motivate someone to leave his country and flee
to another? It is usually despair at conditions in which
one’s life is in danger from violence, destitution,
starvation, and constant racial, political or religious
abuse. The persecution need not be by the state; it may
be instigated by others over whom the state has no control.
But all cases need not be severe.
Adnan Ibrahim Salman is an Iraqi citizen who came to India
on a student visas in 1979, and has lived here ever since.
He did not return to his country when the Iran-Iraq war
began and Iraq called on all its overseas students to return
and join the army.
The penalty for his non-compliance will be death on return
to Iraq. In India, he has been booked under the Foreigners’
Act of 1946 for overstaying. He has to prove to the law
courts why he should not be deported to Iraq. What complicates
his situation is that Adnan did not apply for a refugee
certificate once his visa expired. The further complication
in his case is that India does not have a national law for
refugees.
There are thousands of cases like Adnan’s and thousands
that are worse. But has anything changed to better the situation?
No. The attitude to the matter is one of passive indifference.
There has also been opposition to a national law for refugees.
India in the past has successfully dealt with massive refugee
inflows.
The Indian Constitution also provides basic rights to people
“resident on the soil of India” which would include
refugees (part III of the Constitution, that highlights
fundamental rights, is applicable to “all” persons
in India). Finally, the National Human Rights commission
safeguards refugee rights without a specific law.
A national law for refugees would allow the government
to distinguish clearly between a migrant and a refugee.
It would ensure a rights-based regime and may go a long
way in wiping out discrimination.
None of the South Asian states has adopted a domestic law
for its refugees. If India were to do so, it would encourage
others to adopt one as well. This could control the refugee
inflow into India. INAV
