Bureau of Immigration data show approximately 330 Pakistanis and approximately 1,770
Bangladeshi nationals have been repatriated during the last three years.
On
February 24, 2016, the government told Parliament that in 2014, West Bengal had
arrested 3,724 foreign nationals under various sections of The Foreigners Act, 1946,
and for violating Immigration
Control Rules and Regulations, followed by Tripura (1,713),
Tamil Nadu (639), and Maharashtra (228).
Rohingyas
They
are an Ethnic group,
mostly Muslims, and a minorities of Hindus fr
om the Rakhine state of Myanmar. They were not granted full citizenship
by Myanmar. They were classified as “resident
foreigners or associate citizens”.
om the Rakhine state of Myanmar. They were not granted full citizenship
by Myanmar. They were classified as “resident
foreigners or associate citizens”.
They
speak a dialect of Bengali and not Burmese. Ethnically they are much closer to
Indo-Aryan people of India and Bangladesh than to the Sino-Tibetans of the
Country.
The problem started when they
left Myanmar in large numbers, first in 2012, during the first wave of organized
attacks against them by the army. Last year, lakhs of them took shelter in
Cox’s Bazar area of Bangladesh.
Since
2012, 5 lakh Rohingyas have taken shelter in Saudi Arabia. There are
around 40,000 Rohingyas in
India, of which around
5,700 are in Jammu. Indian Government has described illegal Rohingya immigrants
as posing a national
security threat, and ordered state governments last year to
identify and deport them.
Who can be an illegal migrant?
A
foreign national, who enters India on valid travel documents and stays beyond their validity or
a foreign national, who enters without
valid travel documents.
Illegal
migrants “infringe on the
rights of Indian citizens” and are “more vulnerable for getting recruited by
terrorist organisations”.
Section
3(2)(c) of The Foreigners Act, 1946, gives the Central Government the right to deport a foreign national.
Global pact
India is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention and
1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, and it does not currently
have a national law on refugees.
In
2011, the Union government circulated to all states and Union Territories a Standard Operating Procedure
to deal with foreign nationals who claimed to be refugees.
However,
the power to identify and deport foreign nationals, who are in India illegally
has been delegated to State Governments / Union Territories and the Home
Ministry’s Bureau of Immigration.
Customary International Law
The
International Court of
Justice Statute defines customary international law in Article 38(1)(b) as
“evidence of a general practice accepted as law.” This is generally determined
through two factors:
the general practice of states and what states have accepted as law.
Customary
International Law, has been crystallised as a result of the practice of the States.
Some
scholars argue that, the principle is so well enshrined that it constitutes a peremptory norm
from which no derogation what so ever is permitted.
India’s
tough stand on deporting
Rohingyas back to Rakhine State in the midst of the ongoing
violence has evoked
criticism from national and international human rights
activists.
Contention of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
It
appealed to India to stay
the repatriation. The Indian Government says, the men who
belonged to Rakhine Province requested the Myanmar Government in 2016 to issue
them documents to return to their Country.
But,
UNHCR says
a lot has changed since then and the important aspect is ethnic cleansing took
place in 2017, which saw nearly a million flee to camps in Bangladesh.
The
seven men, who had been imprisoned in Assam since 2012, were denied the
opportunity to make an informed decision in the current conditions.
UNHCR
strongly feels the current conditions in Rakhine State are not conducive for safe, dignified and
sustainable return for the Rohingya.
Way Forward: Need for enhanced
Indian diplomatic efforts
India
has a stake in the security conditions in upper western Myanmar adjoining the Naga self-administered zone
where the Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim
operates.
The
success of India’s diplomacy will lie in the extent to which it can induce
Naypyitaw to take a long view in the interests of its own political stability, internal
security and social harmony.
If
such a process can be initiated with the help of Indian diplomacy, the
Rohingyas would be able to come out of the genocidal situation in which they
find themselves at present.
A
modicum of understanding prevails between New Delhi and Naypyitaw with a view
to ensuring that the
internal security environment in India`s north-eastern states
is not jeopardised by the activities of the Khaplang group in Myanmar.
ASEAN, India and Bangladesh need to discuss the Rohingya
crisis together to work for an optimum
solution to the problem. The first step would be to convince
the present government in Myanmar about the benefits of well-coordinated cooperation
between ASEAN members, India and Bangladesh to tackle the issue.
