[act-ma] 3/05 Political Prisoners and Refugees in South Asia

[Charlie Welch]

Abha Sur <asur at mit.edu> writes

*Political Prisoners and Refugees in South Asia*

/When/: March 5th (Saturday) at 11am EST (9pm Pakistan; 9:30pm India/Sri 
Lanka; 9:45pmNepal; 10pm Bangladesh/Bhutan).

/Facebook Event Page/: https://www.facebook.com/events/294596009237443/

/Zoom Registration/: https://tinyurl.com/PoliticalPrisonersRefugees

Draconian state policies have increased political prisoners and refugees 
in South Asia. Boston South Asian Coalition’s (BSAC) event on March 5th 
(Saturday) at 11am EST will discuss the state of refugees and political 
prisoners in Bhutan and India.

*/1. The Creation of Refugees and Political Prisoners in Bhutan /*

During 1990-92, around 100,000 people of Bhutan, which constituted 
one-sixth of the Bhutanese population, were evicted by the Druk regime, 
transported across India, and later moved to eastern Nepal. Thousands of 
refugees have received asylum all over the world but around 7,000 
refugees remain in the refugee camps in Nepal, as they want to return to 
Bhutan or lack proper documentation. Many refugees and political 
prisoners are still being incarcerated in Bhutan. The speakers will 
discuss the state of Bhutanese refugees and political prisoners.

*_Speakers_*:

/Kanak Mani Dixit/

Kanak is the founding editor of the Himal Southasian regional review 
magazine as well as publisher of the Nepali language weekly Himal 
Khabarpatrika.

/Devendra Bhattarai /

Devendra is a senior journalist with the Kantipur Publication covering 
foreign affairs, migrant labor and human rights issues.

*2. National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Political Prisoners in Assam 
(India)*

In 2019, Indian government published the National Register of Citizens 
(NRC) in Assam that defined which resident of Assam is qualified to be 
an Indian. Almost 2 million people were not included in the NRC and have 
become stateless. If they cannot “prove their citizenship”, the millions 
of residents who have been living in the region for generations risk 
being detained and deported. If the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and 
National Register of Citizens (NRC) are implemented all over India, as 
is the plan, the most vulnerable – landless Dalits, Muslim migrant 
laborers, women, transgender, Adivasi – will become stateless. The 
speaker will discuss the condition of the people in Assam because of NRC 
and the building of the new prison industrial complex.

*_Speaker_*:

/Aman Wadud /

Aman is a human rights lawyer. He has defended people who were being 
stripped of their citizenship rights in the state of Assam in India.




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