Demanding A Concrete Refugee Policy
The Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA) on the backdrop of an uproarious
atmosphere against the Centre’s move to grant citizenship to religious
minorities from Bangladesh and Pakistan in Assam of northeast India raised a
demand for concrete refugee policy for the country.In a memorandum, sent to
Assam Governor Banwarilal Purohit recently, the nationalist people’s forum
argued that India should have the refugee policy ‘to deal with the issue of
immigrants logically and legally’ forever.“We sincerely believe India should
sign the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention. Moreover, our government has
to ratify the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees,” said the
memorandum, signed by some distinguished personalities including Cologne
(Germany) based eminent historian Dr Nirode K Barooah, former director general
of National Museum Dr Rabin Dev Choudhury, eminent publisher Giripada Dev
Choudhury, senior editor-journalist Dhirendra Nath Chakrabarty, award winning
filmmaker Manju Bora, film personality Pranjal Saikia, IIT Kharagpur professor
Gourishankar S Hiremath, Banaras Hindu University professor Anil K Rai, with
others.India: Demanding A Concrete Refugee Policy – OpEd
|
|
|
| | |
|
|
|
| |
India: Demanding A Concrete Refugee Policy – OpEd
The Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA) on the backdrop of an uproarious
atmosphere against the Centre’s move ... | |
|
|
From: Sushanta Kar <[email protected]>
To: Nava Thakuria <[email protected]>; A Mailing list for people
interested in Assam from around the world <[email protected]>
Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; yahoogroups
<[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2016 12:52 AM
Subject: Re: [Assam] PPFA memorandum on religious minorities
"History bears witness tothe fact that Muslims of undivided India that followed
the ideology of MuslimLeague and who wanted a separate homeland for the Muslims
were granted Pakistanand thus they became ‘foreigners’ to Indians. In fact the
moment they created aforeign land for themselves they lost their rights to get
into India againwithout passports or related legal documents. So, post 15
August 1947 India,all those who demanded and chose to live in Pakistan
(including East Pakistan)was legally foreigners."---I don't agree with such
looselogic. Not all Muslims demanded Pakistan. There were hundreds of them
opposedthe division. Rather Hindu Mahasava supported the division, If not whole
ofIndia, at least they wanted Divided Bengal.Even Peoplelike Shimanta Gandhi
had to leave in Pakistan. Should we say that, as He andhis people didn't choose
to come over in India at the Time of partition theyhave lost any claim in
India. or they are the Supporter of Pakistan? Was itpossible for all who
opposed Pakistan to come in India? What aboutAfganistan? There are thousands of
Muslim refugees who took shelter in Pakistan.Do we think they are safe in
Pakistan. Are all of them supporter of Taliban?
Sushanta Kar
সুশান্ত কর
তিনসুকিয়া, আসাম
আমার ব্লগগুলি:
http://sushantakar40.blogspot.com
http://ishankonerkahini.blogspot.com
http://ishankonerkotha.blogspot.com
পূর্বোত্তরের বাংলা প্রকাশনার সংগ্রহঃ
http://kathernouko.blogspot.com/
http://ishanerpunjomegh.blogspot.com/
আমি পূর্বোত্তরের গৌরব এই অভিধানেও কাজ করি:
http://www.xobdo.org/
"স্বাজাত্যের অহমিকার থেকে মুক্তি দানের শিক্ষাই, আজকের দিনের প্রধান শিক্ষা"
রবীন্দ্রনাথ
On Sun, Oct 30, 2016 at 10:13 PM, Nava Thakuria via Assam
<[email protected]> wrote:
To,Shri Banwarilal Purohit,Hon’ble Governor of Assam,Raj Bhawan,Kharghuli,
Guwahati-781004Dated: Guwahati, 31 October 2016Your Excellency,Warm greetings
from the Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA).We would like to bring to your
kind attention some of the recent misleading and manipulative statements by
some individuals and organizations on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016
issue. We are shocked that these groups of vested interests are trying to
communalise the issue instead of helping to find an amicable solution.The
extremely volatile utterances targeting the Hindu minority community of Assam
is deplorable and condemnable to say the least. We are from this land of
glorious civilization & culture and we feel that our spirit should be that of
accommodation of Hindu, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs and other religious
minorities who have had to face extreme suppression in erstwhile East Pakistan
(now Bangladesh) and also West Pakistan and have been the true victims of
partition of India. We would like to take this opportunity to highlight the
historical truth that cannot and should not be forgotten and which will attempt
to build an honest perspective on the issue of who is a ‘foreigner’ in Assam
(India) which has been a touchy and thorny issue since long.
Hence, we must all look back and see what transpired in 1942 when Mahatma
Gandhi called for the 'Quit India' movement. The Muslim League raised another
slogan 'Divide India And Quit'. In 1946, the 'Pakistan' demand of Muslim
league, supported by the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI), was
accompanied by 'Direct Action' or the violent communal riots like the 'Great
Calcutta killing' where nearly 5000 people were killed or massacred in only 4
days. Assam's eminent poet Amulya Barua was one of the victims in that killing
field. History bears witness to the fact that Muslims of undivided India that
followed the ideology of Muslim League and who wanted a separate homeland for
the Muslims were granted Pakistan and thus they became ‘foreigners’ to Indians.
In fact the moment they created a foreign land for themselves they lost their
rights to get into India again without passports or related legal documents.
So, post 15 August 1947 India, all those who demanded and chose to live in
Pakistan (including East Pakistan) was legally foreigners. However, history is
also witness to the fact that the minority Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists
who were left behind in Pakistan were continuing to face brutal suppression at
the hands of the new non-secular government, which prompted the Prime Minister
of Independent India Jawaharlal Nehru to issue a historic statement in
Parliament that non-Muslims would be safe and secure in Pakistan as both the
new nations pledged to be good and friendly neighbours. However, Nehru also
declared in the Parliament that if, in future, non-Muslims felt unsafe and
insecure in Pakistan due to religious or communal persecutions, they would be
always welcome in India and they would not be treated as 'foreigners' in India.
It is indeed a matter of great satisfaction that the Union government in New
Delhi has taken steps lately to provide shelter to these 'Victims of Partition'
all over the country following a process of equal distribution. In fact, it is
a long pending moral responsibility which India should have shouldered much
earlier (soon after Nehru made the promise in the Parliament).But better late
than never, and we must all support the government’s action to give citizenship
rights to the victims of Partition who have taken shelter in India from
Pakistan and Bangladesh till 2014. We must not forget that among these people
are many whose ancestors also fought and sacrificed their lives along with many
others for an independent India, which has made us free citizens of an
independent nation today. Let all of us be grateful to them.We are also fully
aware that since the formation of Bangladesh and the assassination of Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman in 1975, Bangladesh made Islam the State religion setting into
motion the persecution of minority non-Muslims. In Bangladesh, the Hindus
include Bengali, Rajbongshi, Hajong, Adivasi, Jayantiya and Bishnupriya
communities, Buddhists (represented by Chakmas) and some Assamese people also,
who fled to the Chittagong hill areas during the Burmese invasion. The
Christians include Bengali, Garo, Khasi and Adivasi people. All these people
became the victims of 'Pakistan Plan' & 'Partition’ and had to therefore live
in a 'foreign land,’ for the creation of which they were not at all
responsible.So, under no circumstances these people can be termed as
'foreigners'. The foreigners are those who created the 'foreign land’ in the
name of religion, but again these are the same group of people who are
infiltrating into India, the country they hated to live in, before 1947 for
reasons best known to them. If the history of Partition is properly studied, we
can clearly understand who these ‘Foreigners’ are and who are the actual
'Victims of Partition' and who came to India to protect their religions,
cultures and their lives. However, we have no intention of communalizing the
issue but we want to provide a clear understanding of how history unfolded lest
some vested interests and parochial mindsets for their own narrow political
gains and cheap mileage would continue to resort to disturb the peace and
tranquil atmosphere of Assam. There is a need for a solution to this vexed
issue and we would fully agree if those that have been truly victimized owing
to Partition and religious persecution are given a place not just in Assam but
in all other States of India, a country where the underlying tenets of
democracy are tolerance, secularism and freedom of religion, faith, practice
and freedom of expression.
Finally, we also raise our voices for a concrete refugee policy for India so
that we can deal with the issue of immigrants logically and legally. We
sincerely believe India should sign the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention.
Moreover, our government has to ratify the 1967 Protocol relating to the status
of refugees.
With Regards,Dhirendra Nath Chakrabarty (Guwahati)Dr Rabin Dev Choudhury
(Guwahati)Giripada Dev Choudhury (Guwahati)Dr Nirode K Barooah (Cologne,
Germany)Dr AK Rai (BHU, Varanasi)Rupam Barua (Gauripur)Nava Thakuria
(Nalbari)Jagadindra Ray Choudhury (Barpeta)Anup Sarma (Guwahati)Manju Bora
(Guwahati)Pranjal Saikia (Guwahati)Utpal Dutta (Guwahati)Dipannita Jaiswal
(Guwahati)Jitul Sonowal (Guwahati)Bobita Sarma (Guwahati)Bidhayak Das (Bangkok,
Thailand)Vavani Sarmah (Washington, USA)Kalyan Dutta-Choudhury (Berkeley, USA)
Pranab Kr Sharma (Guwahati)Prasenjit Chakrabarty (Agartala)Dr Subhra Kinkor
Goswami (Nalbari)Gourishankar S Hiremath (IIT, Kharagpur)Anjanil Kashyap (New
Delhi)Jahnabi Goswami (Guwahati)Girindra Kumar Karjee (Guwahati)Bibekananda
Choudhury (Guwahati)Ravindranath (Dhemaji)Namrata Dutta (Guwahati)Bhagawat
Pritam (Guwahati)Braja Jyoti Sharma (Nagaon)Tarali Chakrabarty (Guwahati)Ujjal
Saikia (Tezpur)Akhyamala Bora (Dergaon)Gitika Talukder (Colombo, Srilanka)Arun
Sarkar (Dudhnoi)Nripen Dutta (Chamata)Onkareshwar Pandey (Noida)
______________________________ _________________
Assam mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.assamnet.org/ listinfo.cgi/assam-assamnet. org
_______________________________________________
Assam mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.assamnet.org/listinfo.cgi/assam-assamnet.org
