The problem of refugee influx that India has been having is not going to end in the near future.
On the contrary, the country may receive more and more refugees from many of its neighbours, according to V. Suryanarayan, veteran specialist in South and Southeast Asian studies.
Linking the possibility of intensification of the problem to the likelihood of the nation-building activity of India’s neighbours getting based on language and religion, Prof. Suryanarayan, who would launch his latest publication, ‘ Refugee Dilemma – Sri Lankan Refugees in Tamil Nadu’ next week, told The Hindu on Tuesday that his apprehension was that minorities in other countries of the south Asian region in future might be subjected to “discrimination and persecution.”
Since Independence, the country had been a home to refugees from different countries.
Annual report
According to the 2017-18 annual report of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, refugees from Sri Lanka accounted for 98,406 and those from the Tibet Autonomous Region of China - 1,08,005.
Reiterating his long-standing suggestion for the enactment of a national refugee law, he said such a policy would address not only the territorial integrity of the host country but also rights of the refugees.
“At present, the questions as to whether the refugees have the right to work and have freedom of association are being handled on an ad hoc basis. However, this cannot go on forever,” explained the former Director of the Centre for South and Southeast Asian Studies, Madras University.
Track record
Describing India’s track record in the protection of interests of refugees as one of virtually unblemished, he, in his book, talked of how well the Tamil Nadu government had been looking after refugees from Sri Lanka.
Of about 62,000 refugees from Sri Lanka living in various camps in the State, he said an estimated 29,500 persons had been categorised as hill country Tamils, who should not be mixed with Sri Lankan Tamil refugees as “the latter are as indigenous to Sri Lanka as the Sinhalese are.” A large number of the hill country Tamils, whose ancestors were taken to Sri Lanka for employment in tea plantations in the late 19th century and early 20th century, now wanted to become Indian citizens. An amendment bill on citizenship, which was being examined by a joint committee of parliamentarians, should also include those hill country Tamils who were desirous of getting absorbed in India.
Religious minorities
At present, the scope of the bill was to enable religious minorities of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan — Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis — to obtain Indian citizenship, he added.
