Refugees Citizenship And Belonging In South Asia

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.

This book provides an in-depth investigation of citizenship and nationalism in connection with the Rohingya community. It analyses the processes of production of statelessness in South Asia in general, and with regard to the Rohingyas in particular. Following the persecution of the Rohingya community in Myanmar (Burma) by the military and the Buddhist militia, a host of texts, mostly descriptive, have examined the historical, political and cultural roots of the genocidal massacre and the flight of its victims to South Asia and South-East Asian countries. The UNHCR reports describe the plight of Rohingyas during and after their journey, while other works focus on the political-economic roots of this ethnic conflict and its consequences for the Rohingyas. To date, very few theoretical insights have been provided on the Rohingya issue. This book seeks to fill that gap, and explores a dialogue between the state and its citizens and non-citizens that results in the production of statelessness. In theoretical terms, the book addresses the construction of citizens and non-citizens on the part of the state, and the process of symbolic othering, achieved through various state practices couched in terms of nationalism. Extensive case studies from India, Myanmar and Bangladesh provide the foundation for a robust theoretical argument. Given its scope, the book will be of interest to students, academics and researchers with a focus on political economy in South Asia in general and/or refugee studies in particular.

"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

This volume is about migration across South Asia and the complex negotiation of borders by people and the states in the process. A border is understood as a form of demarcation, but it also opens up the flow of people, goods, and ideas of legality and illegality. Borders are dynamic and dyadic in the interface of state and non-state actors involved in border operations. Consequently, transborder movement becomes a complex web involving concerns of security, trade, militancy, and questions of citizenship, along with discourses of ghettoisation, belonging and otherness. Since the mid-20th century, the South Asian region has witnessed growing social and political instability and breakdown of regional cooperation. In this context, the volume casts a wide, interdisciplinary lens across South Asia and discusses economic migration as well as forced migration due to persecution and natural disasters. It looks at how understandings of ‘territoriality’ and ‘border’ become blurred due to increasing transborder migration in the region: how states in South Asia address transborder movements at both policy level and on the ground; and how borderlands become spaces for illegal trade and informal economy in South Asia and for negotiations between states and refugees on identity and citizenship. This highly topical volume is for a wide group of scholars and students interested in South Asia, ranging from sociology, anthropology, political science, history, to interdisciplinary fields like migration studies, peace and conflict studies, and development studies.

"This study traces the history of refugee policy-making and its motivations on the Indian subcontinent since 1947, examining in detail the six major instances of forced displacement on the territory of states in the region. It also examines the changing nature of the relationship between South Asian states and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees." "This volume will appeal to individuals with a general interest in refugee policy, in addition to students and scholars of modern history, political science, and international relations, focusing their attention on refugees and refugee policy-making. NGO practitioners who work on the human rights of refugees in South Asia and policy-makers will also find this volume essential."--BOOK JACKET.

The book questions how modern migration and globalisation have impacted upon notions of belonging and identity within nation-states across the world. This book provides theoretical and empirical accounts of the relationship between identity, rights nationalism, race and ethnicity. The authors cover the complexity of the topic as identification has become much more multifaceted. The authors cover difficult and cutting edge issues relating to citizenship, nation formation, identity, remittances, transnational families, migration and asylum in the context of Australia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. These critical issues inform and shape key policy and program responses of many governments and are subject of topic in international relations forums between nation states.

This book engages with evolving definitions of borders and citizenship in the public discourse in the South Asia region. The traditional understanding of citizenship and belonging in the Indian context has been fraying in recent decades. The book offers an analysis of discussions on India's contested zones, the anxieties around identity and the implications of and reactions to the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in different regions in the country. It interrogates the concepts of belonging, ownership and dissent through an analysis of the anti-CAA protests, the Namasudra movements, the life of Tibetan refugees in India and the precarious lives of many communities in India who are identified as stateless, refugees, migrants or outsiders. Interdisciplinary and topical, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of sociology, political science, law, refugee studies, borderland studies, migration studies, public policy, social policy and development studies.

"The Rohingya of Myanmar are one of the world's most persecuted minority populations without citizenship. After the latest exodus from Myanmar in 2017, there are now more than half a million Rohingya in Bangladesh living in camps, often in conditions of abject poverty, malnutrition and without proper access to shelter or work permits. Some of them are now compelled to take to the seas in perilous journeys to the Southeast Asian countries in search of a better life. They are now asked to go back to Myanmar, but without any promise of citizenship or an end to discrimination. This book looks at the Rohingya in the South Asian region, primarily India and Bangladesh. It explores the broader picture of the historical and political dimensions of the Rohingya crisis, and examines subjects of statelessness, human rights and humanitarian protection of these victims of forced migration. Further, it chronicles the actual process of emergence of a stateless community - the transformation of a national group into a stateless existence without basic rights. This volume will be of great interest to students and researchers of human rights, migration and diaspora studies, race and ethnic studies, refugee studies, politics and international relations, discrimination studies, and peace and conflict studies, as well as to international organizations, those in law, media and journalism, civil society and policymakers"--Back cover.