From MIZZIMA News Group (r)

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The Devil's Alternative

They come here looking for a better life. But for many, it's a leap from
the frying pan into the fire

By: Ramananda Sengupta
Date: January 18, 1999

It was an arduous passage to India, in the epic mode. Their father and
brother had just been executed by the Saddam Hussein regime in 1991 when
Anwar and Hazim Hussain fled to Iran. After two years in jail and another
four traumatic ones underground, they surfaced at Bandar Abbas port to
board MV Ratnadeep, an Indian vessel said to be Europe-bound. Since Hazim,
then 26, had a perfunctory knowledge of big engines, he was made to work
in the engine room. Six years his junior, though sickly, Anwar sailed as a
deck hand. After five days on the high seas, living on vitamin pills and
water, they were told they had reached. Only, it wasn't a European port
they were looking at. It was Vasco, Goa.

And there was no warm reception either - the brothers spent their first
one-and-a-half years on Indian soil in familiar fashion: in jail.
Meanwhile, their constant petitions to the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and NGOS working with refugees paid off. The UNHCR issued
them a certificate and asked them to Regional Registration Office (FRRO)
in Delhi. Once there, just a couple of papers away from security, the duo
were arrested all over again.

They were then sent to what locals call "the mad-house". Home ministry
officials deny knowledge of its existence. On paper, it's a beggar's home.
Yet the sprawling campus of the Lampur Seva Sadan, near the northern
Delhi-Haryana border, heavily guarded by paramilitary personnel, is where
refugees of uncertain status, or those who are to be deported, end up.
Here, Hazim`s hand was broken by security guards for protesting against
the ill-treatment of his brother. On January 6, the camp had six male
refugees, though just a week earlier there were over 75. The fact that all
but one of them were Muslims spawned hints that the home ministry had
ordered a crackdown on immigrants from Islamic countries, Particularly
Afghans who arrived after the Taliban took over Afghanistan.

"Some of them have been shifted to Tihar Jail, but I don't know where the
others were taken," says camp superintendent P.K. Mehra. He took paints to
explain that his brief was to hold all refugees sent to him by the FRRO
till further orders. His job was to provide food and basic amenities.

The six current inmates - Three Afghans, a Sri Lankan, a Burmese and an
Iranian - had no complaints about the way they were treated at the camp,
but raged against the officers of the FRRO, accusing them of extortion,
blackmail and intimidation. "They took Rs 7,000 from me, everything that I
had," says an inmate.

The Hussain brothers are just a drop in an ocean. According to UNHCR
estimates, India is home to over 2.5 million refugees. And yet, it has no
law that so much as defines a refugee, leave alone stipulate what to do
with them. All foreigners are treated under the Foreigners Act of 1946,
which basically calls for the detention and deportation of anyone entering
the country without valid papers.

The limited mandate given to the UNHCR - which deals mainly with Afghans,
besides a few Iranians, Somalis and Sudanese - further complicates the
issue. They are recognised as refugees, paid Rs 1,200 a month, but cannot
work in the country. The 10,000 Tibetans and 64,000 Sri Lankans in India
are treated under special legislation and the government undertakes
responsibility for their well-being. Most of them have been given work
Permits.

But what the absence of law in India leads to, at the ground level, is a
carte blanche for ad-hoc, arbitrary decisions - not to mention enough
scope for corruption at the expense of hapless nobodies. Hunger stricken
TmigrT, political refuge, exiles from war to potential saboteur...the
verdict hinges on whim. The lines of distinction can disappear according
to convenience.

Abdul Tahiri left Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan for Dubai. But he was soon
deported to Kabul, where the Taliban jailed him. He escaped from a
hospital and walked for two days to Peshawar, Pakistan. From there, he
took a train to Lahore. Tired, afraid and hungry, he trudged for a day
towards the Indian border, reaching the high barbed wire fence at dusk.

After a night to rebuffs, BSF jawans took pity on him and allowed him in.
But he went straight to Amritsar Jail, Where he spent the next six months.
He was then freed, only to be told that he would be deported. A lawyer who
noticed him crying in the corridors of the Amritsar court contacted the
UNHCR, which flew down some officers to interrogate him. Satisfied about
his antecedents, they finally issued him a certificate. He was a free man
in India.

Hossain Ibrahimi, an Iranian, still dreams of that. He sneaked into India
on a forged Afghan passport. But after landing in Mumbai, he threw it away
(since he realised it could land him in trouble) and went to Bangalore.
But he couldn't quite convince the UNHCR about his bona fides. He came to
Delhi, and staged a dharna outside the UNHCR office.

That didn't work. So he stitched up his lips to enforce the hunger strike.
But that didn't work either, and he was taken to Lampur. Finally, he was
taken to the airport to be deported. "I know they will me if I go to Iran.
So when they gave me the papers for my travel, I tore them up at the
airport." He is now back in Lampur. A new set of papers are being
prepared. But, Says Hossain, "I`ll Kill myself first."

Hazim and Anwar Hussain, after stints in Lampur and Tihar, were finally
released on bail. In December, they gathered a few other Iraqis and staged
a hunger strike outside the UNHCR office demanding that they be resettled
in a third country. But the protests were equally against the arbitrary
functioning of the 	UNHCR office, which leaves many refugees
frustrated and harassed. Says Ravi Nair of the South Asia Human Rights
Documentation Centre, "'The UNHCR often treats asylum-seekers with an
indifference or disdain that further dehumanises them. Refugees feel they
are treated as pests by UNHCR officers. There are cases of UNHCR
arbitrarily suspending the subsistence allowance of recognised refugees.
The UNHCR has lost the confidence of the refugees in India." In fact, some
describe a senior UNHCR officer as a "bloodsucker". They even have a
cartoon on this officer which was sent to the UNHCR headquarters in
Geneva.

Dismissing allegations of high-handedness and lack of transparency, UNHCR
chief of mission Augustine P. Mahiya points out that his organisation has
stringent eligibility procedures. "In India, there is no law for refugees.
The onus for determining refugee status rests squarely on us. But we also
have inbuilt mechanisms for those who feel they have been unfairly
treated. They are allowed to appeal to us two or three times. We make it a
point to explain to every refugee why his petition has or has not been
accepted. But it sure would help if the Indian government enacted some
law, or gave us some guidelines on eligibility."

But the government is in no hurry to oblige. It wants the situation to
remain hazy. "A law is necessary only when it is necessary," says the
official who professed ignorance about the Lampur camp. "So far, the
Foreigners` Act has proved adequate. Do we need a new law?"

Meanwhile, the Hussain brothers - and thousands of others like them -
continue to live with the constant dread of arrest and deportation hanging
over them.

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