Weve had Christine Milne bagging out Sri Lanka and now we have this utterly ridiculous excuse for a human being insulting India. Sarah Hanson-Young should just learn to shut her mouth before she causes a diplomatic rift. #auspol #BSWNBPM #GreenLies -AUSTRALIA’s Indian business community has slammed Sarah Hanson-Young, saying it is “completely inappropriate” for the Greens senator to trash India’s reputation and compare it to terrorists because for decades it has offered refugees a haven. Senator Hanson-Young is standing by her claim that it is “dangerous” to send 157 asylum-seekers, who left from a Tamil refugee camp in Pondicherry in southern India, back to the nation without first assessing any claims they make for protection. The asylum-seekers are at Western Australia’s Curtin detention centre undergoing health checks before they are assessed by Indian consular staff to establish their identities. The Greens immigration spokeswoman drew criticism for comparing the Indian government with extremist group Islamic State (formerly the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) on Sunday when she asked if Australia would “allow the Sri Lankan government to come in and interview the Tamils? Would we go so far as to allow ISIS to interrogate those who have fled Iraq?’’ The Australia India Business Council’s Deepak Raj-Gupta said the comments were “completely inappropriate”. “For decades, India has been offering a safe haven to displaced people from oppressive regimes,” he said. Senator Hanson-Young defended the comments, saying they were about “third parties” being given access to asylum-seekers, not a criticism of the Indian government. “What I referred to is that we have to stand by the rule of law and the rule of law isn’t that we can just open up the gates to third parties to interrogate and interview refugees that have come to Australia. That is the law,” she said. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the senator’s comments on India were offensive. “They are the biggest democracy on the planet. They have an outstanding record in terms of their treatment of Tamil people within Tamil Nadu and to suggest that somehow they are not only fleeing persecution from India in Tamil Nadu but that this is equivalent to ISIS — I mean this is just ridiculous, it is shrill and it is hysterical,” he said on Sydney’s Radio 2GB. He said India was a vibrant democracy and was working closely with Australia to fight people-smuggling. “So suggesting that people have left a safe country, are somehow fleeing persecution in India, I think is absurd,” he told the ABC. “They have come from India and, as a result, a passage to Australia here is nothing more than an economic migration seeking to illegally enter Australia.” Indian high commissioner to Australia Biren Nanda said, ‘‘Even though India is not a signatory to the (UN) refugee convention, our state response to refugees has been of the highest order and has been praised by the UNHCR publicly on numerous occasions.” Refugee advocate David Manne is arguing against the involvement of Indian consular staff saying: “It’s a fundamental principle of refugee law that no one, no person, should have to deal with the authorities of another country from which they may have fled.”- theaustralian.au/national-affairs/policy/green-sarah-hansonyoung-slammed-for-slur-on-india/story-fn9hm1gu-1227004879747
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 12:26:30 +0000
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