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Myanmar refugee claim opens up can



Myanmar refugee claim opens up can of worms

By Akshaya Mukul
The Times of India (New Delhi)

New Delhi:  Jafar Alam, a Rohingya refugee and political activist from
the Arakan region of Myanmar, who was languishing in Deoband jail since
1998, was released on Monday and later rearrested.  Chances are that he
might be deported to Myanmar.

Meanwhile, the South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC),
which has been fighting for granting refugee status to Jafar, wrote to
the National Human Rights Commission on Monday to intervene immediately
in this matter.  On its part, the NHRC has sent SAHRDC?s request to the
ministry of external affairs and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) for speedy action.

Alam, who entered India illegally at the end of 1997, was earlier a
member of the National Democratic Party for Human Rights.  Once in India
Jafar went to meet his brother, Budiul Alam, a UNHCR refugee, in
Deoband.  Since Jafar was travelling without papers, Budiul came to
Delhi to talk to UNHCR officials to grant him refugee status.  In a
sworn affidavit, Budiul says that by the time he returned to Deoband,
Jafar was arrested by UP police under section 14 of the Foreigners Act
for illegal entry on January 29, 1998.
After his arrest, UNHCR officials interviewed Jafar twice in Deoband
jail.  But Budiful alleges in his affidavit that when the first
interview was conducted by NL Rao on May 7, 1998, Jafar was not informed
who he was.  Neither was he told that it was a determination interview.
Moreover, no interpreter was present during the interview, since Jafar
speaks only Arkanese and Burmese.

But on June 11,1998, the UNHCR wrote to Jafar saying that he could not
be granted refugee status because he has not been able to show that he
or any member of his family suffered or could suffer treatment of such
gravity as to amount to refugee related persecution.  However, Budiul
claims that Jafar was arrested by the military government in 1989 and
was released only in 1994.  Again, in 1996, the military authorities had
taken him to the Indo-Myanmar border to do forced labour.

Not happy with the outcome of the first interview, Budiul appealed on
behalf of his brother.  The second interview took place on September 25,
1998 and was conducted by Shambul Rizvi Khan of the UNHCR.  Budiul, who
acted as the interpreter, says that Khan was satisfied with the
interviews.  But in October, when Budiul went to UNHCR, NL Rai allegedly
told him that there is little chance of Jafar getting refugee status as
there was pressure from the government to deny Muslims from Myanmar
refugee status.

However JM Castro-Magluff, deputy chief of the UNHCR in Delhi, denies
these allegations.  Jafar, he says was not suffering on the ground of
race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or
political opinion.  Also, Castro-Magluff says there is no reason why
Jafar should get refugee status just because his brother is one.  ?We do
prima-facie determination on an individual basis,? he says.  On the
allegation that the UNHCR is under pressure not to give refugee status
to Muslims, Castro-Magluff says that the fear is unfounded since the
maximum number of refugees in India are Muslims.  He also denies there
is any pressure from the government on this issue.  However, he adds
that Jafar?s case can be reconsidered if some new element is added by
him in his request.

With time running out, however, it seems improbable that Jafar will be
accorded refugee status.