The Politics of Refugees in South Asia Partition and post-colonial migrations—sometimes voluntary, often forced— have created borders in South Asia that serve to oppress rather than protect. Migrants and refugees feel that their real homes lie beyond the borders, and liberation struggles continue the quest for freedoms that have proved to be elusive for many. States scapegoat refugees as “outsiders” for their own ends, justi- fying the denial of their rights, while academic discourse on refugees represents them either as victims or as terrorists. Taking a stance against such projections, this book examines refugees’ struggles for better living conditions and against marginalization. By analyzing protest and militarization among refugees, the book argues that they are neither victims without agency nor war entrepreneurs. Through interviews, surveys, and statistical analyses, it shows how states have manipu- lated refugee identity and resistance to promote the ideal of the nation-state, thereby creating protracted refugee crises. This is evident even in the most humanitarian state intervention in modern South Asia—India’s military intervention in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1971. The findings put forward provide the basis for understanding the conditions under which violence can break out, and thereby have implications for host countries, donor countries, and aid organizations in the formulation of refugee policy. The book is of interest to scholars in the fields of South Asian studies, comparative politics, international relations, refugee studies, development studies, security studies, and peace studies. Navine Murshid is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Colgate Uni- versity, Hamilton, New York, USA. Her research interests include South Asian politics, international political economy, civil wars, economic development, and refugee and minority politics. Routledge Advances in South Asian Studies Edited by Subrata K. Mitra, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Germany South Asia, with its burgeoning, ethnically diverse population, soaring economies, and nuclear weapons, is an increasingly important region in the global context. The series, which builds on this complex, dynamic and volatile area, features innovative and original research on the region as a whole or on the countries. Its scope extends to scholarly works drawing on history, poli- tics, development studies, sociology and economics of individual countries from the region as well those that take an interdisciplinary and comparative approach to the area as a whole or to a comparison of two or more countries from this region. In terms of theory and method, rather than basing itself on any one orthodoxy, the series draws broadly on the insights germane to area studies, as well as the toolkit of the social sciences in general, emphasizing comparison, the analysis of the structure and processes, and the application of qualitative and quantitative methods. The series welcomes submissions from established authors in the field as well as from young authors who have recently completed their doctoral dissertations. 1. Perception, Politics and 5. Starvation and India’s Security in South Asia Democracy The Compound Crisis of 1990 Dan Banik P. R. Chari, Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema and Stephen Philip 6. Parliamentary Control and Cohen Government Accountability in South Asia 2. Coalition Politics and Hindu A Comparative Analysis of Nationalism Bangladesh, India and Sri Edited by Katharine Adeney Lanka and Lawrence Saez Taiabur Rahman 3. The Puzzle of India’s 7. 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The Construction of History Identity, Resistance, and Nationalism in India Manipulation Textbooks, Controversies and Navine Murshid Politics Sylvie Guichard This page intentionally left blank The Politics of Refugees in South Asia Identity, resistance, manipulation Navine Murshid ROUTLEDGE Routledge Taylor & Francis Group LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2014 Navine Murshid The right of Navine Murshid to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Murshid, Navine. The politics of refugees in South Asia : identity, resistance, manipulation / Navine Murshid. pages cm. – (Routledge advances in South Asian studies ; 24) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Refugees–Political aspects–South Asia. 2. Forced migration–Political aspects–South Asia. I. Title. HV640.4.S64M87 2013 325'.210954–dc23 2013012183 ISBN: 978-0-415-62930-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-89014-2 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Taylor & Francis Books Dedicated to my brother, Shabab Murshid (January 13, 1990–May 10, 2005) This page intentionally left blank Contents List of illustrations x Acknowledgements xi List of abbreviations xiii 1 Introduction 1 2 Refugee voices 15 3 Contentious politics and refugee protests 35 4 Camp militarization for state interests 55 5 Strategic manipulation of refugees 75 6 India’s military intervention in East Pakistan, 1971 104 7 Conclusion 119 Appendix: data on protest and militarization 125 Chronology 129 Bibliography 144 Index 153 Illustrations Figures 3.1 The effect of the presence of international organizations on protests for varying covariate contribution 45 3.2 The effect of the expected length of stay on protests for varying covariate contribution 45 3.3 The effect of poor living conditions on protests for varying covariate contribution 47 3.4 The effect of state hostility on protests for varying covariate contribution 51 4.1 The predicted probability of militarization for varying covariate contribution based on the interaction between “separatism” and “state complicity” 71 5.1 Inflows in terms of absolute numbers and percentage of district population 100 6.1 Refugee influx into India during the nine-month period from April toDecember 1971 114 Tables 1.1 Refugees from neighboring countries 3 1.2 Welfare spending per capita, citizens, and refugees 6 3.1 Cross-tabulations 49 3.2 Logistic regression for protests 50 4.1 Refugee groups and militarization in South Asia 67 4.2 Logistic regression for camp militarization 69 4.3 Predicted probabilities 70 4.4 Predicted probability of militarization for varying covariate contribution 72 5.1 Percentage of decadal variation in population since 1951 in India and Assam 81 5.2 Numbers repatriated to Pakistan, 1974–98 92 6.1 Refugees in and out of camps as on December 15, 1971 114 6.2 Influx of refugees relative to local population 114 Acknowledgements A vast network of people—mentors, colleagues, students, family, friends, and acquaintances—from North America to South Asia made this book possible and I thank you all. First I thank my mentors Jim Johnson, Bing Powell, and Randy Stone at the University of Rochester for guiding and inspiring me to work on the subject of refugees, both during and after the dissertation stage of the research that went into this book. I thank my colleagues and friends at the University of Rochester for their friendship and all kinds of discussions