Letter to the Week

Time and again, wars and natural calamities have turned big portions of a population into refugees.

Time and again, wars and natural calamities have turned big portions of a population into refugees. Countries which give shelter to such uprooted and destitute people have a responsibility towards them; and yet genuine refugees must be distinguished from illegal immigrants. Pranav Sachdeva from New Delhi argued in a letter earlier this week 8216;Home to all8217; how India has singularly failed to legislate on refugees although it hosts so many of them.

8226;This refers to 8216;The Last Refuge8217;. India has a large number of refugees. Although our record as hosts hasn8217;t been bad, it has not been great either. Not only have we not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol but we have also not yet made a domestic refugee policy. Despite the fact that other south Asian countries are equally guilty, it doesn8217;t matter since they are mainly refugee exporting countries. But India needs laws and refugee tribunals.

As of now, we don8217;t have a mechanism to distinguish refugees from illegal immigrants. Thus everything depends on the government8217;s will 8212; we can turn out Chakma refugees one day, and admit Tibetans the next day. And we can still ask the Tibetans to leave any time. The way India treated Bhutanese refugees and threw them into Nepal was cruel. Not having a refugee policy and refugee laws is the biggest hindrance to a rights-based approach.

Not for a prize

8226; This refers to Seema Chishti8217;s article, 8216;A visit from a daughter8217; . The meeting of Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra with Nalini Sriharan is not an act to be wondered at or discussed in the light of revenge. It was revenge that motivated Milton8217;s Satan to devastate God8217;s wonderful creation called man; and certain political forces in India have followed the same route.

Priyanka8217;s visit was a personal rather than a political one 8212; aimed at knowing the truth or motive behind her father8217;s assassination. Thus the visit should be viewed in the context of children8217;s emotional attachment to their parents. Priyanka, belonging to a political family but not a politician herself, has set an example for politicians to refrain from exploiting every issue for political gains.

8212; S.M. Fasiullah

Delhi

Peace in our time?

8226; The editorial, 8216;Torching the lines8217;, has rightly expressed the feelings of the common Indian that, while the safety of the Olympic torch had to be ensured, the right of people to protest is inviolable in a democracy. The torch relay on the Rajpath was executed in a bland manner, with ordinary citizens not even being allowed to watch it, let alone take part in it. Therefore, would it not have been cheaper and more convenient for all concerned, including the harassed citizens of Delhi, to have had the torch flown over the Rajpath on a VIP aircraft, with all the VIPs taking turns in holding the flame on board?

Further, while we are always so upset at the most insignificant remarks by foreign politicians about our 8220;internal matters8221;, we have let the Chinese and the Indian Left browbeat us into over-reacting. Are we trying to appease China by sacrificing Tibet as Neville Chamberlain tried to buy peace by sacrificing Czechoslovakia to Hitler? If that is indeed the case, we should remember that what followed was World War II.

8212; Satish Dayal

New Delhi