Center tells court that no community can obtain refugee status outside legislative framework
New Delhi:
The Center told the Supreme Court that as a developing country and the world’s most populous country, India needs to prioritize its own citizens, claiming that illegal immigration and residence as well as Rohingya refugees pose serious implications for national security.
The affidavit filed yesterday was in response to a petition seeking directions to the Center to release Rohingya refugees detained for alleged violations of the Foreigners Act.
Rohingya refugees are mostly Muslims who have fled ethnic violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and entered India, Bangladesh and other countries illegally.
Rohingya refugees are now at the center of a new political debate as the Center implements the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to provide citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who have fled those countries Religious persecution entered India before 2015. Union Home Minister Amit Shah hit back at opposition parties raising national security concerns related to the implementation of CAA, questioning why the opposition leaders were not opposing the entry of Rohingyas.
The Center said in its affidavit that India is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. Therefore, whether any category of human beings should be recognized as refugees is “purely a question”. policy decision,” it said.
“In fact, the prayer therein seeks to provide illegal Rohingya migrants with the right to reside within India, which is a clear violation of Article 19 (Freedom of Speech and Expression). It is argued that the scope of Article 19 is limited to this only Applicable to citizens, it cannot be extended to apply to foreigners.”
The Center also said that no community can obtain refugee status outside the legislative framework and such declaration cannot be made through judicial orders.
“As a developing country with the largest population in the world and limited resources, it must give priority to its own citizens. Therefore, foreigners cannot be fully accepted as refugees, especially when the vast majority of foreigners have become refugees.” Illegal entry country,” it said.
The center cited a 2005 Supreme Court decision to highlight the dangers of uncontrolled immigration. “It is believed that the continued illegal migration and continued presence of Rohingyas in India, apart from being absolutely illegal, is found to have serious implications for national security and poses a serious security threat,” the report said.
The Center’s affidavit also noted that India’s unfenced borders with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and other countries, as well as easily navigable sea routes with Pakistan and Sri Lanka, make India vulnerable to the ongoing threat of an influx of illegal immigrants. , and the resulting problems.
“The granting of any immigration status to an individual or a class of persons from a particular country is not merely a national matter but is essentially the result of a political decision taken by that country in maintaining diplomatic relations with or with the country concerned. Any other foreign countries. Such decisions are often the product of a complex interaction of social, economic, cultural and other factors, and are often extra-legal or extra-judicial considerations. In view of the above, the changes in the nature of prayer currently sought to change the existing system are unsustainable ‘s,” it said.
“Once it is recognized that the Rohingyas are illegal immigrants, the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 will fully apply to them,” it said, adding that the prayer in the petition essentially amounts to setting aside the Foreigners Act itself.
“The petitioner’s prayer amounts to rewriting a statute or directing Parliament to frame a law in a particular manner which is completely beyond the power of judicial review. The court cannot direct Parliament to frame a law which is trite law or to legislate in a particular manner,” the affidavit said.
