Why Bugti Asylum Could Help India Get a Refugee Law, Finally

New Delhi: Baloch leader Brahumdagh Bugti on Tuesday approached India’s Permanent Mission in Geneva to request political asylum in India, a first step before he files the formal application with the Indian embassy in Berne, Switzerland. If okayed, this would be the highest profile individual to get political asylum from New Delhi after 1959, when it received Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama who was fleeing atrocities by China.

This then will have to come through an executive order, because India does not have any national law on refugees or people seeking asylum. Neither is it a signatory of the United Nations Refugee Convention even though it has around 200,000 documented refugees. Perhaps in recognition of this, three separate bills dealing with refugees were introduced in Parliament on the same day last year.

A raft of parliamentarians ranging from Congress’ Shashi Tharoor to BJP’s Varun Gandhi to BJD’s Rabindra Jena have tried their hand at bringing a refugee law, but not much has moved on that front. Tharoor introduced The Asylum Bill, 2015, as a private member’s bill while Varun Gandhi introduced The National Asylum Bill, 2015.

Rabindra Kumar Jena of the BJD introduced The Protection of Refugees and Asylum Seekers Bill, 2015. All three bills – incidentally, introduced on December 18, 2015 – are currently pending in Parliament.

The bills seek to create legislation that provides refugees with a clearly defined legal status and humanitarian protection. In the absence of a legal framework, the government’s refugee policy will be based on executive policies and judicial pronouncements. As strife around the globe intensifies, India should expect more refugees in the future, necessitating an institutionalised legal approach rather than deciding policy on a case by case basis.

Varun Gandhi, in a newspaper article, said that a properly defined asylum policy could distinguish between refugees fleeing persecution and migrants escaping penury.

“Such an act would establish a formal, fair and humanitarian process,” he wrote. Gandhi was unreachable for comment while doing this story.

Gandhi’s legislation states it is a bill to provide for the citizenship rules of refugees and asylum seekers and that it has provisions for the definition, registration and the general obligations of refugees. It also has procedures to deal with a mass influx of refugees.

India has hosted different refugee populations at different times. Tibetans (1959), Bangladeshis (1971), Chakmas (1963), Afghans (1980) and Sri Lankan Tamils (1983) have fled to India following strife in their homelands. Apart from this, India also hosts Iraqis, Syrians, Myanmarese, Somalis and other refugees.

Not having legally-backed rights and papers in India makes the life of refugees difficult. Renting accommodation, getting children admitted to schools, finding employment or even buying a SIM card - all need proper documentation.

A refugee is someone who has fled his or her country because of a fear of persecution on grounds of race, religion, sex or ethnicity. Currently, refugees are treated on par with any other foreigners in India, as per the Foreigners Act, according to Vasudha Reddy, a legal protection officer with the Ara Trust, which is a centre for refugee law.

The Ara Trust helped Tharoor draft his bill, which seeks to incorporate the current policy on refugees, Constitutional principles and India’s international obligations. Tharoor was travelling, and could not be reached for this story.

The Government of India currently relies on the Foreigners Act, 1946 and The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939 to govern the entry, stay and exit of refugees. “These laws treat refugees on par with other foreigners, not taking into account that the former need a special status based on humanitarian grounds,” Reddy said. India’s treatment of refugees has generally been considered humane, she added.

Probably the biggest refugee influx into India was in 1947 when around seven million Hindus and Sikhs arrived from parts of undivided India that went to Pakistan, and were rehabilitated by the government. The BJP’s 2014 election manifesto says that “India shall remain a natural home for persecuted Hindus and they shall be welcome to seek refuge here.”