The Nowhere People
By Poonam I Kaushish
Circa 1975: Hundreds of thousands fled South Vietnam after Saigon’s fall for fear of political persecution, the largest mass exodus of asylum seekers by sea in modern history. Giving rise to the term “boat people”. The world embraced them as refugees. US took in large numbers out of guilt, Canada, Britain, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan followed, even tiny Bermuda.
Circa 1989: The world changed its mind. “Boat people” had become an albatross round the neck. Worse, it gave rise to a new breed of boat people, economic refugees: farmers, factory workers and labourers flocked looking for a new life.
Fifty years history is repeating itself in India. Its “boat people”, read illegal migrants come in multitudes from neighbouring countries looking for new economic pastures. The influx started from Bangladesh post 1971 war, Pakistan, Myanmar followed. Since then over 50 million illegal migrants have become an albatross around India’s neck.
However since Operation Sindoor, things look like changing. Just as the boat people lost world sympathy in 1989, New Delhi is awake and has changed its tune. Deportation is the new buzzword in North Block: Detect and throw out over 25 million illegal Bangladeshi migrants, those from Myanmar and 11,700 Pakistanis over staying in India.
Last week, over 2000 Bangladeshis were “pushed back” following a nationwide verification exercise along the Bangladesh border in Tripura, Meghalaya, and Assam. The action began from Gujarat which accounts for half of the illegal immigrants sent back to their country, along-with Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Assam. Also the External Affairs Ministry has asked Bangladesh to verify the nationality of 2,369 so that they can be deported as some cases have been pending for over five years.
Happily, due to the fear of crackdown another 2000 voluntarily showed up at the Indo-Bangladeshi border to cross over. Asserted a senior official, “So far those rounded up are not resisting deportation as a majority are poor labourers with no means to fight a legal battle and prefer to go back to families. But once numbers swell to 20,000 a week we expect some unease from Bangladesh as our neighbor said “push-ins are unacceptable.”
Undeniably this is a temporary solution. As once the heat lowers illegal immigrant often come back. Earlier this year West Bengal Government alleged BSF’s laxity against Bangladeshi infiltrators, Delhi’s erstwhile AAP Government’s too tried to drive out Bangladeshi students and Assam on-going frequent diatribe against immigrants from our Eastern neigbours has raised its head time and again in the heat and dust of politics.
Think. Over 3,084,826 Bangladeshis reside in India alongside 100,000 Burmese Chins and 11,18865 Rohingya families. Seven districts of Bihar, Bangla, North East and Rajasthan are affected as also Delhi with over 15 lakhs and Maharashtra over 100,000 illegal Bangladeshi migrants. In Mizoram anti-outsider feelings vents itself in frequent volatile stir. In Nagaland, illegal Bangladeshis have more than trebled in past two decades — rising from 20,000 in 1991 to over 75,000 2001. Tripura is a tragic case of obliteration of local identity reduced from 59.1% in 1951 to 31.1% 2011.
True, while sympathy for deportees is understandable, their stories speak of the larger inequalities between counties which require wider conversations, not political point scoring or vote-bank politics. After all, no nation State allows free-for-all citizenship and illegal immigration has been a thorn in India’s flesh for decades.
Recall, in Assam the anti-outsider sentiment was the major trigger for the Assam agitation which often led to violence. In recent years the State Governments aggressive use of the Foreigner’s Tribunal, which set 25 March 1971 as the cut-off for citizenship in the State has left thousands with an uncertain future.
Said Chief Minister Biswas, “Changing demography is a big issue for me. It is not political but a matter of life and death. I ignite fire against infiltrators,” citing a February Supreme Court directive in support of his anti-immigration drive.
Worse, bases, sanctuaries and madrasas are mushrooming near international borders for supporting secessionist and separatist insurgency movements. According to RAW sources, the ISI has launched “Operation PINCODE” to bring the entire North-East under Islamic rule.
Given the socio-economic complexities of our politics and society, international migration scholar Myron Weiner succinctly says: Population flows across borders “do not merely happen. More often they are made to happen”. Governments sometimes force immigration “as a means asserting dominance of one ethnic community over another”.
Where do we go from here? Pander to rabid rabble rousers? Pander to politics of vote banks? Allow Push-Pull theory of illegality to continue: Push back to poverty vs Pull of India’s rich pastures. The option is narrow. The solution must be clearly dictated by India’s primary security interest: its integrity and stability.
With Opposition Parties trying their damndest to ensure the Government to take a humane and holistic view it’s not going to be a cake walk. The UN Special Rapporteur on racism said India risked breaching its international legal obligations by returning the men to possible harm. Yet, security experts are unanimous: Refugees are adding to security threat of the region. Chittagong area, bordering Myanmar is a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism and provides shelter to secessionist forces in North East.
With Bangladesh failing to keep up the pressure, Islamists are enjoying a free run under the garb of NGO activities. “Almost all NGOs have strong terror links,” opined a North East security expert. Alongside with China’s influence in Bangladesh and Myanmar; stakes are high for India whereby it is trying to walk the tightrope of taking along both Bangladesh and Myanmar Governments towards a viable solution.
Besides, India in conjunction with its “Act East” policy to grow its influence in South East Asian countries and counter China’s increasing presence in the region is actively pursuing good relations with Myanmar’s army officials in the hope that it can enlist their help in acting against militants in North East, many of whom are based in Myanmar’s Sagaing jungles.
Undoubtedly, Government is aware that a grave problem exists and is doing all it takes to defuse this power keg. Towards that end both Centre and States need to plug holes in our social system, think out-of-the-box and put in place strong deterrence.
Practically, strict policing and border management is vital. Locals need to be recruited for policing. Certainly, if one cannot stop infiltrators at the border then there is no way one can push them back. The issue is a grave demographic, economic and national security problem which if unresolved is only likely to get bigger in future.
Half of South Asia’s population lives in areas that are projected to become moderate to severe climate hotspots by 2050. If a large chunk of people in vulnerable areas are displaced, this will lead to further waves of emigration. In Bangladesh alone, 15 million people alone are expected to displaced due to environmental degradation.
Clearly, history has come a full circle for illegal immigrants. The need of the hour is to continue dealing assertively with these ‘nowhere people’ and set up time-bound measures. One needs to remember, disasters of history are the result of a Government’s folly and perverse persistence in pursuing policies contrary to national interests. Operation Sindoor has been a wake-up call. Time to once and for all bell the big fat cat of illegal migrants. — INFA