The Home Ministry has referred to security agencies Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti’s application seeking political asylum in India. After the security agencies complete the mandatory vetting exercise, the Union Cabinet will take a final call on granting asylum to Bugti — the president and founder of the Baloch Republican Party.
“After examination of Bugti’s application for political asylum, we have sent it to security agencies for an in-depth vetting.
A security vetting is necessary for such applications before a final decision is taken,” a Home Ministry official said.
He is the grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti, a Baloch nationalist leader killed by the Pakistan Army in 2006. The Pakistan Government had blamed India for helping Bugti flee Pakistan to Geneva in 2010 via Afghanistan. If granted asylum, Bugti could be given a long-term visa to be renewed every year.
As India intensified its diplomatic efforts to isolate Pakistan diplomatically after the Uri attack, Bugti stepped forward to contribute his bit to expose the crime committed by the Pakistan Army in Balochistan. He had applied for asylum in Indian consulate in Geneva last week and the application was subsequently forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs, which in turn sent it to the Home Ministry.
India does not have a comprehensive asylum policy. As per the United Nations, there are at least 6,480 asylum seekers in India but the Government does not recognise them. The situation is so complex that the officials in the Home Ministry are digging through 1959 records to check the process.
In 1959, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai lama and his followers were granted asylum by the Jawaharlal Nehru Government. Even the term “refugee” is not mentioned in any domestic law. India has not signed the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention on the Status of Refugees, or its 1967 Protocol that stipulates the rights and services the host states must provide refugees.