Ever since the crisis involving the Rohingya erupted in its extended neighbourhood, the government in India has failed to make any diplomatic effort to defuse the crisis. The Prime Minister’s visit to Myanmar did not touch the nerve of the problem. It was only after much persuasion by Dhaka that New Delhi woke up in response and came out with a soft-worded statement and drew up a soft policy of dispatching relief items to refugee camps in Bangladesh. This has been an inadequate move and doesn’t reflect the leadership role that behoves a nation aspiring to be a leading power. It needs to do more by balancing its diplomatic relations with nations in the region while helping to find a lasting solution of the crisis (“Rohingya have terror links: Centre”, September 19).
Bibhuti Das,
New Delhi
Why should India be so adamant about deporting the Rohingya despite world and domestic opinion? Just look at the pictures of the Rohingya who live in refugee camps, with fear written on their faces about the threat of deportation by India. Most of them are a bag of bones, they ran to this nation empty-handed and with trust, and want asylum here till things become normal in their nation. Do they look like they are capable of causing security threats to India when their worry is about the security of their families primarily? No one likes a ‘refugee status’ permanently. Is it because of the present government’s belief that being from a particular minority community is a source of threat to our national security? Doesn’t India have the capability to find those who are really indulging in such anti-security acts, isolate them and treat them fittingly? Is our security system so weak?
Rameeza A. Rasheed,
Chennai
