An afghan question india needs a clear refugee policy based on international principles

An afghan question india needs a clear refugee policy based on international principles

Afghanistan is hurtling towards a Taliban-defined disaster. Major countries are advising citizens to leave. GoI has asked all Indian firms operating in Afghanistan to immediately withdraw their Indian employees. There’s also the question of Afghan minorities who may want refuge in India. Congress leader Jaiveer Shergill has already written to the Centre to evacuate Afghan Sikhs and Hindus. But there’s a still larger question – should Afghanistan descend into civil war, New Delhi won’t be able to shy away from taking a call on accepting Afghan refugees.

The problem is India doesn’t have a refugee policy. It is neither party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, nor does it have a domestic refugee law. This, despite the fact that India has hosted lakhs of refugees in its 74-year history. From Tibetan refugees fleeing persecution in communist China – said to number 73,404 in India in 2019 – and 59,506 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees staying in 108 camps in Tamil Nadu and Odisha to hosting an estimated 10 million East Pakistani refugees during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War, India has largely stuck, in practice, to the principle of non-refoulement. But the lack of concrete guidelines means accepting or rejecting refugees is left to the political party in government – New Delhi of late has been particularly stern towards Rohingya refugees. The Citizenship Amendment Act that seeks to create a pathway to citizenship for non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan is no answer to a humanitarian crisis.

True, each country has a certain capacity to absorb refugees. But that should be determined through guidelines, principles and data. Besides, if India sees itself as a middle power with deep interests in the South Asian region, it has to squarely deal with the refugee issue as a responsible nation. Having a domestic refugee law will be a start.