The Politics of Refugees in South Asia
The Politics of Refugees in South Asia

Author: Navine Murshid

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-01

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 1134502273

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Partition and post-colonial migrations – sometimes voluntary, often forced – have created borders in South Asia that serve to oppress rather than protect. Migrants and refugees feel their real home lies beyond the border, and liberation struggles continue the quest for freedoms that have proven to be elusive for many. States scapegoat refugees as "outsiders" for their own ends, justifying the denial of their rights, while academic discourse on refugees represents them either as victims or as terrorists. Taking a stance against such projections, this book examines refugees’ struggles for better living conditions and against marginalization. By analyzing protest and militarization among refugees, the book argues that they are neither victims without agency nor war entrepreneurs. Through interviews, surveys, and statistical analyses, it shows how states have manipulated refugee identity and resistance to promote the ideal of the nation-state, thereby creating protracted refugee crises. This is evident even in the most humanitarian state intervention in modern South Asia – India’s military intervention in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1971. The findings put forward provide the basis to understand the conditions under which violence can break out, and thereby have implications for host countries, donor countries, and aid organizations in the formulation of refugee‐policy. The book is of interest to scholars in the fields of South Asian studies, comparative politics, international relations, refugee studies, development studies, security studies and peace studies.

Refugees, Citizenship and Belonging in South Asia
Refugees, Citizenship and Belonging in South Asia

Author: Nasreen Chowdhory

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-06-13

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 9811301972

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This book examines forced migration of two refugees groups in South Asia. The author discusses the claims of “belonging” of refugees, and asserts that in practice “belonging” can extend beyond the state-centric understanding of membership in South Asian states. She addresses two sets of interrelated questions: what factors determine whether refugees are relocated to their home countries in South Asia, and why do some repatriated groups re-integrate more successfully than others in “post-peace” South Asian states? This book answers these questions through a study of refugees from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh who sought asylum in India and were later relocated to their countries of origin. Since postcolonial societies have a typical kind of state-formation, in South Asia’s case this has profoundly shaped questions of belonging and membership. The debate tends to focus on citizenship, making it a benchmark to demarcate inclusion and exclusion in South Asian states. In addition to qualitative analysis, this book includes narratives of Sri Lankan and Chakma refugees in post-conflict and post-peace Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively, and critiques the impact of macro policies from the bottom up.

Refugees and Borders in South Asia
Refugees and Borders in South Asia

Author: Antara Datta

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 0415524725

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"The war in 1971 between India and Pakistan led to a huge refugee crisis. This book argues that the massive influx of ten million refugees into India within a few short months changed ideas about citizenship and belonging in South Asia.The book looks at how the Indian state, while generously keeping its borders open to the refugees, made it clear that these refugees were different from those generated by Partition, and would not be allowed to settle permanently. It discusses how the state was breaking its 'effective' link between refugees and citizenship, and how at the same time a second 'affective' border was developing between those living in the border areas, especially in Assam and West Bengal. The book argues that the present discourse regarding illegal infiltration from Bangladesh has a long historical trajectory in which the events of 1971 play a key role. It goes on to analyse the aftermath of the 1971 war and the massive repatriation project undertaken by the governments of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to examine ways in which questions about minorities and belonging remained unresolved post-1971.The book is an interesting contribution to the history of refugees, border-making and 1971 in South Asia, as well as to studies in politics and international relations"--Provided by publisher

Climate Refugees in South Asia
Climate Refugees in South Asia

Author: Stellina Jolly

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-12-28

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9811331375

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This book addresses the forms of legal protection extended to people displaced due to the consequences of climate change, and who have either become refugees by crossing international borders or are climatically displaced persons (CDPs) in their own homelands. It explores the legal response of the South Asian Jurisdictions to these refugee-like situations, and also to what extent these people are protected under current international law. The book critically examines and assesses whether States have obligations to protect people displaced by climate change under international refugee law (IRL) and international climate change law (ICCL). It discusses the issue of climate migration in South Asia, analyzes the legal and judicial response initiated by South Asian nations, and also investigates the role of SAARC in relation to climate change and climate refugees. Drawing on the International Legal Standards and States’ Practices in South Asia regarding climate refugees, the book shows how IRL, ICCL, and IHRL (international human rights law) have been used to address and identify the gaps in the global legal protection framework concerning the contours of the normative debate on climate refugees, climate change displacement, migration, forced migration, susceptibility to climate change, typology of climate change-induced displacement, role of the SAARC and its municipal legal systems, approaches to climate change, human mobility and developing a hybrid regional law, or advocating a legal alternative of equal measure in a region characterized by diversity and multiculturalism. The book offers valuable takeaways for students, researchers, consultants, practitioners and policymakers alike.

Home, Belonging and Memory in Migration
Home, Belonging and Memory in Migration

Author: Sadan Jha

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2021-09-09

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 1000429423

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This volume explores ideas of home, belonging and memory in migration through the social realities of leaving and living. It discusses themes and issues such as locating migrant subjectivities and belonging; sociability and wellbeing; the making of a village; bondage and seasonality; dislocation and domestic labour; women and work; gender and religion; Bhojpuri folksongs; folk music; experience; and the city to analyse the social and cultural dynamics of internal migration in India in historical perspectives. Departing from the dominant understanding of migration as an aberration impelled by economic factors, the book focuses on the centrality of migration in the making of society. Based on case studies from an array of geo-cultural regions from across India, the volume views migrants as active agents with their own determinations of selfhood and location. Part of the series Migrations in South Asia, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers of migration studies, refugee studies, gender studies, development studies, social work, political economy, social history, political studies, social and cultural anthropology, exclusion studies, sociology, and South Asian Studies.

Internal Migration Within South Asia
Internal Migration Within South Asia

Author: Ujjaini Mukhopadhyay

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2023-01-14

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789811661464

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This book critically discusses the multi-dimensional contemporary issues within the ambit of the driving forces, mechanisms, vulnerability, and opportunities of the intra-region human movement in South Asia. It covers different dimensions of cross-border migration within South Asia as well as internal migration particularly in India, reflecting upon both voluntary and forced movements. It traces the trajectory and past trends in migration in the South Asian countries. It evaluates the vulnerability of refugees and stateless vis-à-vis state policies. Issues regarding Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to Bangladesh, Nepalese immigration to India, the crisis around Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, Afghan returnee refugees from Pakistan and Iran, resettlement of Bhutanese refugees are explored in the chapters. It also analyzes the impact on wage inequality due to emigration, the crucial role of social capital in migration decisions, and socio-economic vulnerabilities of women migrants in India. This book provides a clear understanding of international and internal migration in South Asia for students and academics, and a valuable resource for policy-makers and planners in development studies, regional development, and South Asian studies.

Refugees and the Politics of the Everyday State in Pakistan
Refugees and the Politics of the Everyday State in Pakistan

Author: Elisabetta Iob

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-13

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1351395998

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The Partition of India in 1947 involved the division of two provinces, Bengal and the Punjab, based on district-wise Hindu or Muslim majorities. The Partition displaced between 10 and 12 million people along religious lines. This book provides a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the resettlement and rehabilitation of Partition refugees in Pakistani Punjab between 1947 and 1962. It weaves a chronological and thematic plot into a single narrative, and focuses on the Punjabi refugee middle and upper-middle class. Emphasising the everyday experience of the state, the author challenges standard interpretations of the resettlement of Partition refugees in the region and calls for a more nuanced understanding of their rehabilitation. The book argues the universality of the so-called 'exercise in human misery', and the heterogeneity of the rehabilitation policies. Refugees’ stories and interactions with local institutions reveal the inability of the local bureaucracy to establish its own 'polity' and the viable workability of Pakistan as a state. The use of Pakistani documents, US and British records and a careful survey of both the judicial records and the Urdu and English-language dailies of the time, provides an invaluable window onto the everyday life of a state, its institutions and its citizens. A carefully researched study of both the state and the everyday lives of refugees as they negotiated resettlement, through both personal and official channels, the book offers an important reinterpretation of the first years of Pakistani history. It will be of interest to academics working in the field of refugee resettlement and South Asian History and Politics.

Refugees, Borders and Identities
Refugees, Borders and Identities

Author: Anindita Ghoshal

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2020-08-06

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 1000165221

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This book examines the impact of Partition on refugees in East and Northeast India and their struggle for identity, space and political rights. In the wake of the legalisation of the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019, this region remains a hotbed of identity and refugee politics. Drawing on extensive research and in-depth fieldwork, this book discusses themes of displacement, rehabilitation, discrimination and politicisation of refugees that preceded and followed the Partition of India in 1947. It portrays the crises experienced by refugees in recreating the socio-cultural milieu of the lost motherland and the consequent loss of their linguistic, cultural, economic and ethnic identities. The author also studies how the presence of the refugees shaped the conduct of politics in West Bengal, Assam and Tripura in the decades following Partition. Refugees, Borders and Identities will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of refugee studies, border studies, South Asian history, migration studies, Partition studies, sociology, anthropology, political studies, international relations and refugee studies, and for general readers of modern Indian history.

Regionalism and Regional Security in South Asia
Regionalism and Regional Security in South Asia

Author: Zahid Shahab Ahmed

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-08

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1317069005

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Zahid Shahab Ahmed evaluates the progress of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). This study goes beyond economic integration to present a detailed appraisal of cooperation under the overarching themes of economic cooperation, environmental security, human welfare, and cooperation in security matters. According to the author, SAARC is making progress in addressing the myriad of issues on its agenda. The transition from agreements to actions and frequent interactions among the member states has boosted confidence. The progress of SAARC is more evident in the less controversial areas of human security, such as poverty alleviation, health and safety, human resources development, and higher education. Notwithstanding enthusiastic commitments reflected in agreements and action plans, there is a gulf between rhetoric and implementation most notably in sensitive areas relating to traditional security. In the light of the findings of this study, the author proposes that greater cooperation in common human security areas has a potential to pave the way for a cooperation on issues of a ’contentious’ nature, particularly terrorism.