A Very
Incorrect Projection of India by Australian Officials and in the Australian
Media
The
Australian media and the Australian politicians are creating a wrong impression
in the minds of ordinary Australian citizens that the Sri Lankan Tamil asylum
seekers are Indians and, hence, by implication are suggesting that they are the
responsibility of India. Unhappily, Indian officials have become implicitly
involved in this duplicity, as they offered to hear the asylum seekers out to
find a solution to the impasse, which was created by Australian customs keeping
these people at sea, on a Australian, customs boat for nearly a month.
The
ordinary Australian citizen, after reading the following news reports, is
getting an impression that Indians have started arriving to Australia illegally
by boats. Nothing can be farther from the truth. The media should be writing
clearly that “Sri Lankan Tamils have taken a boat from India to come to
Australia.” This has been correctly reported by Indian media. (Please see Times
of India news headline below.)
How
can India be responsible for non-Indians taking a boat from India and going to
anywhere in the world? India has been taking care of the Sri Lankan refugees,
out of humanitarian considerations. India cannot be represented as a country
whose residents seek refuge in another country because of persecution. While
none of the news reports say this specifically, a normal reader will come to
this conclusion, after reading these reports and hearing similar news on the TV.
This
will seriously damage the image of Indian principles of democratic values and
social equality for all, in Australian minds.
When
a similar situation arose about people of other nationalities taking boats from
Indonesia and coming to Australia illegally, the Indonesian authorities
categorically said that they have no control on people of other countries. They
refused to intervene and the media could never report or imply that Indonesia
was failing its responsibility towards its residents.
The
Indian government should stop any discussions with Australian authorities regarding
Sri Lankan Tamils, unless Australian media corrects the wrong picture being
presented by it. Further, India should only discuss the matter in a tri-partite
meeting with representatives of Sri Lanka and Australia. It is Sri Lanka which
is not treating its citizens well, because of which these refugees, some with
babies, have taken the perilous journey across seas, to Australia. By calling
these people “economic migrants”, and implying that they are the responsibility
of India, Australia is failing its responsibility of bringing Sri Lanka under
international pressure for a fair treatment of all its citizens.
It
is requested that the Australian media should immediately stop the wrong
reportage and place facts correctly to its readers. Such a wrong picture will
place India in the category of countries like Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq
and Syria. Indians and their Associations have started feeling very hurt.
Indians are peace loving, hardworking and law-abiding Australians, and come
from a country which has a long tradition of democratic functioning.
ABC
News: August 2, 2014, The 157 asylum seekers
at the centre of a High Court battle have been sent to Nauru after they
declined to return to India.
ABC
News: writes, “The
157 Tamil asylum seekers were held on a Customs ship for almost a month before
being transferred to the Curtin Detention Centre in Western Australia. Court
documents have revealed the Government came very close to offloading the group
in India, but was halted by an urgent interim injunction last month. According
to the Government's defence, filed on Thursday, the Customs ship carrying the
group arrived near India and was resupplied while the High Court case played
out.”
ABC NEWS: August 2, 2014 says, “The
Tamils were initially held at sea by Australian Customs and Border Protection
officials for several weeks when their boat was intercepted after leaving an
Indian port. After protracted negotiations with India and a High Court
challenge, they were taken to the Curtin detention centre in Western Australia.”
THE GUARDIAN: Saturday 2 August 2014 Scott
Morrison says group of 157 asylum seekers were transferred after they ‘chose
not to meet with Indian officials’
SKYNEWS: Saturday 2
August 2014
A group of Tamil asylum seekers including some 50 children has
been sent to detention at Nauru after the government says they passed up an
opportunity to return to their safe former home……… An agreement between
Australia and India would have seen the group interviewed by Indian
representatives at Curtin, with the view to returning eligible members to
India.
NEWS.COM.AU
: AUGUST 02, 2014 THE first asylum seekers to set foot on Australian soil in seven
months, including 50 children, have been transferred to Nauru after
“squandering’’ an offer to return to India.
THE
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: AUGUST 02, 2014 Mr Newhouse produced letters he
had written to the Indian High Commission and the federal government seeking to
consult with the Indian government's lawyers on July 27. Mr Morrison said in a
statement: "It is very disappointing that after having had access to their
legal representatives on July 29, all 157 IMAs coincidentally chose not to talk
to Indian consular officials." The Australian government had created a
"rare opportunity" for the asylum seekers to return to India to be
with their family and friends rather than go to Nauru, he said.
THE
AUSTRALIAN AUGUST 03, 2014 SCOTT Morrison has defended transferring 157 asylum-seekers
to Nauru without the knowledge of their lawyers, saying they turned down “a
very good” offer to be returned to India.
DAILY TELEGRAPH: AUGUST 02, 2014 The 157 Tamil asylum seekers brought to the Australian
mainland last week after a month at sea have been flown to Nauru in a secret
overnight operation, after all refused offers to return to India.
THE TIMES OF INDIA: AP | Aug 2, 2014,
07.08 PM IST Lankan Tamil asylum seekers, who sailed from
India, sent to Nauru by Australia
