Of suffering immigrants
Humra Quraishi
Rohingya refugees walk to the shore after crossing the
Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of
Bengal in Teknaf, Bangladesh.
With the government of the day all
set to deport thousands of the
Rohingya refugees who had fled
here to India , from Myanmar ,
after facing the worst forms of
brutalities in their home country ,
these refugees are asking : Does the Indian
government want us to be massacred…do they
realize that we will be killed, if thrown back to our
home country? Why we fled and reached here? Only
and only to save our lives. See our living conditions ,
we are living worse
than animals but at
least we are alive!
Yes, it will be
human rights
violation as these
hapless men and
women and children
fled Myanmar in the
worst of conditions
and are living here in
sub – human
conditions , yet even
that seems getting
snatched from them.
To quote Amnesty
International India
on this -
'Any measures
taken by Indian
authorities to
forcibly return
Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers to Myanmar,
where they are at risk of serious human rights
violations, would be a flagrant violation of
international law…Sending Rohingya Muslims back to
Myanmar - where the community has faced horrific
abuses - would not just be a violation of India's
commitments under international law, but also a
blemish on India's history of supporting those fleeing
persecution…
Rohingya Muslims, who are among the most
persecuted minorities in the world, have faced years
of discrimination, repression and violence in
Myanmar. In December 2016, Amnesty International
documented a brutal campaign of violence against
the Rohingya by security forces in Myanmar, which
could amount to crimes against humanity. The
organization found evidence of a wide range of
human rights violations in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State, including unlawful killings, multiple
rapes, and the burning down of hundreds of
Rohingya homes and buildings.
Forcing Rohingya asylum-seekers and refugees
back to Myanmar would violate the international
principle of non-refoulement - which is recognized in
customary international law and is binding on India -
that forbids states from forcibly returning people to a
country where
they would be at
real risk of
serious human
rights violations.
India is also a
state party to
o t h e r
i n t e r n a t i o n a l
treaties which
recognize this
p r i n c i p l e ,
including the
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
Covenant on Civil
and Political
Rights and the
UN Convention
on the Rights of
the Child. Indian
authorities know
very well the
abuses the Rohingya community have been facing in
Myanmar. Deporting them and abandoning them to
their fates would be unconscionable.'
In fact, Amnesty International India has also
highlighted a very significant factor.
I quote,
'As a country aspiring to a larger global role, India
needs to urgently sign the Refugee Convention and
put in place a robust domestic framework to protect
refugee rights…Despite being home to thousands of
refugees, India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee
Convention or the 1967 Protocol Relating to the
Status of Refugees, and does not have a domestic
legal refugee protection framework. The treatment of
refugees falls largely under the Foreigners Act of
1946, which makes no distinction between asylumseekers,
refugees and other foreigners. The Act
makes undocumented physical presence in the
country a crime.The Indian government has mandated the office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to register and
provide assistance to refugees from nonneighbouring
countries and Myanmar.
According to UNHCR, there are around 14,000
registered Rohingya people in India, including 3,000
asylum-seekers and 11,000 who have been granted
refugee status by the organization. However the
Indian government does not officially recognize these
people as refugees.In February, the UN Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
published a report which documented the human
rights violations against Rohingya people. In March,
the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar presented
her latest findings on human rights violations in
Myanmar.
Reports of the Special Rapporteur, the OHCHR,
Amnesty International and other organizations have
found that Rohingya women and girls have been
raped, hundreds of people forcibly disappeared and
an unknown number killed by security forces in
Myanmar. Tens of thousands of Rohingya people
have been displaced – many after their homes were
burned to the ground by state security forces…In
March, India, at the UN Human Rights Council, also
supported through consensus the creation of an
international fact-finding mission to look into human
rights violations in Rakhine state.'
Are the biased and politically charged barriers
coming in our way from reaching out to these refugeseekers?
Today more and more Right -wing
governments are hardening their stand .Sadly, even
the United Nations has not been able to give the
required cushioning to hundreds of refugees in
deep distress, desperately looking for refuge ,just
about somewhere and anywhere…What's their future
and where do they go , running from one country to
the next ? How many perish whilst trying to flee?
INDIA DISSENTS
In fact, this brings me to focus on this just
launched volume - India Dissents: 3,000 years of
Difference, Doubt and Argument. Published by
Speaking Tiger , edited by Ashok Vajpeyi, it dwells on
the significance that ought to be given to dissent.
To quote from it ,
'Throughout Indian history, various individuals
and groups have questioned , ensured and debated
authority - be it the State or empire, religious or
political traditions , caste hierarchies, patriarchy or
even the idea of god. These dissenting voices have
persisted despite all attempts made to silence them.
They have inspired revolutions and uprisings, helped
preserve individual dignity and freedom, and
promoted tolerance and a plurality in thought and
lifestyle.'
And tucked in the 546 pages of this volume are
thoughts ,essays , letters , verse, reports, poetry and
lyrics and songs , calls- to – action from texts
ranging from the Rig Veda to Ambedkar's
Annihilation of Caste; to the words cum thoughts
of Buddha , Nanak , Gandhi , Tagore, Ghalib , Akka
Mahadevi , Lal Ded, Manto, Mahashweta Devi ,
Jayaprakash Narayan , Amartya Sen and several
others …
As Ashok
Vajpeyi writes in
his introduction
to the volume –
'It can be
r e a s o n a b l y
argued that in
India, from the
beginning of its
c i v i l i z a t i o n a l
e n t e r p r i s e ,
nothing has
r e m a i n e d
singular for long;
in fact ,nothing
has been in a
sense, allowed to
be singular for
long. Whether
God or religion, philosophy or metaphysics ,
language or custom, cuisine or costume, every realm
is marked by plurality. It is not accidental that that
in many western languages the word India is plural –
'Indes',meaning 'Indias'…
Commenting on the climate of intolerance, the
Economic and Political Weekly wrote recently, 'While
Dabholkar, Pansare, MM Kulburgi's murders ( as well
as harassment meted out to others like them ) are
deplorable, what is even more despicable is the
silence of large sections of the population and the
continuing support of political interests to their
tormentors. This lack of response is a clear
indication that citizens feel they are not safe if they
speak out against entrenched religious vested
interests and that the State will not take their
complaints seriously. A society that cannot tolerate
dissenting views or keeps quiet in the face of a
violent reaction to such views is staring at a cultural
and intellectual abyss.' '
Words of Baba Farid …
These lines of Baba Farid Shakarganj (1173-1265
AD) hold out for the administrators, politicians, cops
of the day - 'Farid, the earth questioned the sky,
Where are the mighty captains gone?
In their grave they rot, was the reply.'