Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is meant for the persecuted religious minorities in the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. There are a large number of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians who came over to Bharat and are now all set to get their citizenship rights. Organiser Editor Prafulla Ketkar talked to Kiran Chukkapalli, working for Hindu refugees, on the dynamics involved in the persecution of Hindus. Excerpts:
Let us start with Pakistan because it is a very peculiar case. The entire Sindh region where there was a substantial Hindu population even at the time of Partition has changed drastically. Every day Hindus are facing some kind of religious persecution. You work among these people, you understand their issues. What do you find?
Persecution is same in everyone’s case, be it Tamil Eelam brothers, sisters, be it Chakma Hajong community or the Pakistani Hindus but the way we handle it is so different. Unfortunately, in the case of Tamil Eelam, we have a separate Rehabilitation Department under Ministry of External Affairs that has been serving them. They rightfully deserve it; there is no doubt about it hence our country is doing it very very powerfully. So there the rehabilitation programme is in place but while I was spending time with them I realised that many of them actually want to go back to Jaffna and want to resettle but everything is settled there and hopefully our country will do that because Jaffna is a very important juncture for us.
Chakma community is the most loyal community of Bharat without being in Bharat during the Partition. When they were there, they were always raising Bharat’s flags back then. It is our own country that has given them refugee status and then made them stay in Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura. Your take on this?
Tripura and all are fine but in Arunachal Pradesh it is very peculiar because when they resettled there it was NEFA. It was never called Arunachal Pradesh. However, in 1976 when Arunachal Pradesh formed within two-three years there was a slogan against the Chakma Hajong community. So, their refugee status was taken back and since then to now it’s over 50 years that the community is neither refugee nor given citizenship, they are absolutely stateless.
When it comes to Pakistani Hindus, this is one issue that we as a country speak up also in different platforms on human rights and everything because it is very well established that in Sindh our people are going through a lot. We have done research for the policy that we want to introduce that 58 per cent of the Hindu girls in Singh province have never been educated. There are different reports that indicate that girls, starting from 13 to 1,350 go missing every year. Whether it’s 13 or 1350 doesn’t matter, even if it’s one girl it matters to us. When one of our women’s modesty was tested, Ramayan and Mahabharat happened.
But, unfortunately for 70 years, we have neglected the community there. These are mostly SC/ST brothers and sisters. Ninety per cent of them that come to Bharat are Dalits but no Dalit organisations in Bharat stands for them. Our women are being used as a commodity for conversion in Sindh province. But when these women come to Bharat, no women organisation comes forward, no international organisation comes forward to stand for them because they don’t look at them as a Dalit or women. They look at them as Hindus and this is the identity crisis they are facing. We should not be looking at them as a Sindhi Hindu or a Pakistani Hindu problem. This is a Hindu issue because the atrocities inflicted on them are because they are Hindus. So every Hindu should be standing for them.
There are two dimensions to it. First, when the actual Partition happened, why did they choose to stay back? And two, we are raising this issue internationally because the entire discussion about CAA is going on and there are many people who ask why only Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist and Christian and why not Muslims. Explain the situation prevailing there?
Unfortunately, we have kept them poor and uneducated for a long time. When we did research again for policy, the startling numbers we got was 91 per cent of families that have come here have said that their grandfathers had no idea that Partition even happened.
Until the 1971 War, they were happily coming for marriages and everything to Gujarat and going back. They were free birds. They did not even understand why they should move, they were never educated.
So, whatever happens in Bharat, they are being persecuted for that. When India won a cricket match in a quarterfinal in 1996, many houses were burnt. In 1992, when the Babri structure was demolished, half of our temples were demolished.
We need to understand that there is difference between migrants and refugees. So a Muslim, coming from Bangladesh into Bharat for a better life because of the poverty or the situation there, should be treated under a different law. But when a refugee goes from Afghanistan or somewhere they are treated with a different law. Why is the West trying to force something that no one on the planet does but Bharat to do it?
Migrant and refugee are two different concepts. A refugee is an individual who is forced out of his/her country because of a war, religious persecution or natural disaster. Our people are clearly going through religious persecution; so they should be considered as refugees. So that is why they should be coming into Bharat.
Now the question arises why the Ahmadiyya community has not been included because they are also persecuted. We need to understand that Ahmadiyya community is a very different ballgame than a Hindu community.
There are international organisations which are beautifully helping them to resettle. In case they want to come, they can apply for asylum and then come to Bharat. I’m not trying to blame them but they are the founding fathers of Pakistan. You go on their website, it clearly says that we are proud founding fathers of Pakistan. They should not be equally looked on as Indic religions.
Why do you think that CAA is essential and how far facilitating citizenship to these persecuted communities would help them in settling down?
It will make a great difference in terms of peace. CAA is not a new law, that’s why it’s called Amendment. Mostly between 1920 to 1955, laws were created. We are using the same things and some of them
need amendment.
What problems do they encounter like getting a visa to come here?
Illegally no one comes. If they come illegally, we are not someone who will even support them. We will make sure they will be going through the process so that they can legally come. However, getting a visa in Pakistan is a different game altogether.
Rs 1,150 is the visa cost to apply to the Bharat Embassy. You have to send your documents to two different posts. But do you know what is the average money it takes to come from Pakistan to Bharat? It is between Rs 24,000 to 25,000. So when an average family of seven to eight is trying to come, they need Rs three lakh, which is big money. If they work hard for a whole wheat harvest season of ten years they will hardly get one and a half lakh. It is impossible for them to come. Then there are visa rejections.
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