Altaf Hussain Seeks Easier Political Asylum For His Supporters: India Rejects
By Arun Rajnath
NEW DELHI, November 8: Somewhat intrigued by the indirect requests and appeals by visiting Pakistani MQM leader, Mr. Altaf Hussain, to grant political asylum to his supporters in India, the Indian Home Ministry has categorically rejected his emotional pleas.
Minister of State for Home Affairs, S. Reghupati told the ‘South Asia Tribune’: “Such proposals are not viable or practical, and Mr. Hussain himself understands it. If we grant asylum to Pakistani Mohajirs (refugees), why not to Bangladeshis? Then we should also cease our actions of identifying illegal migrants from Bangladesh and we should open our doors for every Mohajir, and give them legal status.”
Officials said in his meeting with the Indian Foreign Minister, Natwar Singh, Mr. Hussain requested that his supporters, the Mohajirs, be granted Long Term Visas (LTV) to live in India. He also requested the Indians to show leniency when considering such cases, especially of the Mohajir community, if they are legally entitled to get the Indian citizenship.
Indian analysts are scratching their heads to understand what it was that Mr. Hussain, now a key ally of the military government in Pakistan and having his own nominee as the all powerful Governor of Sindh, was talking about his supporters seeking political asylum in India. Was he expecting another crackdown any time soon?
These analysts think Mr. Hussain’s requests reflected a deep sense of insecurity and lack of confidence in the durability of the present Pakistani set up as Mr. Hussain was not only staying in self-imposed exile himself in UK but was even talking about a large number of his supporters running away from Pakistan to seek asylum in India, as chances of getting asylum in the US and UK had diminished after 9/11.
It may be of interest that during the past crackdowns on MQM in Pakistan, especially during operations launched by the Pakistan Army in the 90s, a huge number of MQM supporters fled the country and took asylum in US and UK, with some of them going to India as well, though there they stayed underground.
An understanding of any sort, if given to Mr. Hussain by the Indians, would result in a huge number of MQM supporters entering India through the large Pak-India border in Sindh and this prospect does not cheer up many in the policy making corridors in New Delhi, analysts say.
Despite being termed as ‘Not War Singh’ by Mr. Hussain, Natwar Singh has given him no assurance of considering his plea to grant LTVs to Mohajirs to entitle them to live here for a longer period.
While talking about the internal conditions in Pakistan with Natwar Singh, Mr. Hussain expressed the desire of several Mohajirs to return to India. He told Mr. Singh the second generation of the Mohajir community was now facing the “acrimonious fruit of the 1947 partition”.
He also recited an Urdu couplet during his interaction with Natwar Singh: ‘Yeh waqt bhi dekha hai taareekh ke safahon ne; Lamhon ne khata ki thi, sadiyon ne sazaa payee’
(Annals of History have witnessed the phenomenon that blunders committed in a short span of time resulted in punishment for centuries)
Foreign Ministry officials told the ‘South Asia Tribune’ Mr. Hussain had also revealed that a large number of his Mohajir community wanted to return to their roots, and most of them wanted their Indian citizenship back.
Though he did not directly request Natwar Singh to “grant asylum” to Mohajirs, he made it clear that this was exactly what he wanted. It would be a great service to humanity to be more lenient towards the Mohajirs. They should be given Long Term Visas, if asylum was a politically incorrect term at this time to use, he pleaded.
Asked to comment on the subject, Secretary, Minority Cell (Congress Party), Meem Afzal had different views: “The new generation of the Pakistan Mohajirs does not wish to re-unite with India or return to their roots. Their counterparts in India also do not wish their relatives to come back from Pakistan to settle down in India. It is just a matter of a few years and after the end of the second generation or Altaf Hussain’s generation, the ghost of nostalgia will just disappear.”
Apart from this some of the Mohajirs were declared ‘dead’ in property documents/papers/ records at the time of the partition by other members of the family to protect their property from being taken over by Indian authorities. Those who stayed behind claimed full inheritance. If they or their children return to India, it would complicate matters a lot.
Mr. Afzal says that it takes 15-20 years for Pakistani women married to Indians to get citizenship of India. In this situation, how asylum could be granted to Mohajirs. Mr. Hussain has also made this point before Natwar Singh.
There are several such cases in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. A Muslim girl of Old Delhi was married to a Pakistani boy, and subsequently became a Pakistani citizen. But after sometime, her husband divorced her, and she returned to India in 1990. Her Indian citizenship has not been restored till now despite all efforts.
Such women are deliberately being denied Indian citizenship. They have to struggle to get the validity-period of their visas to be extended, besides appearing before the local police station now and then. Intelligence agents also keep an eye on Pakistani nationals residing within their area.
The Government of India had virtually kept Altaf Hussain under ‘room-arrest’ the whole day on November 6, and nobody was allowed to see him or his party men. Various government officials and security men paid visits to him the whole day. While sitting in the lobby of Mauriya Sheraton Hotel, this correspondent saw officials of the Indian intelligence watching every movement of Altaf Hussain.
An official was also posted at the Reception Counter of the hotel who used to ascertain the identity of all visitors for Altaf Hussain. No phone calls were allowed to his room from the Reception. The calls transferred to his room by phone operators were automatically diverted to the voice mailbox provided by the hotel to its guests. Mr. Hussain and his aides were given cellular phones with special numbers.