World Refugee Day: How an unknown land has become home to hundreds

In the world, where increasing violence forces thousands of people to leave their homelands and flee to other countries to seek refuge, the need for their physical and emotional support becomes increasingly important. Thus, the UN General Assembly in December 2000 decided to celebrate June 20 as World Refugee Day from 2001, which marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the State of Refugees.

The day aims to commemorate the strength, courage, and perseverance of millions of refugees and serves as the call to the international community to stand in solidarity for these refugees and to raise awareness of their daily struggles.

When DNA visited Majnu ka Tilla, the hub of refugees in the national Capital, a picture of stark contrasts came to the fore. With a gurudwara in between, Tibetan refugees live happily with proper avenues of business and on another side is a refugee camp of Pakistani Hindus who live in extreme conditions with no electricity, water and jobs. If one side eats in fancy cafes, the other side barely gets enough food to survive. The situations of the two communities are so different because of the employment opportunities available to them. While the Tibetans got adequate avenues to start their businesses in the area and make a decent living for themselves, Pakistani Hindus, who came to India considering it to be their own country, have failed to earn even Rs 500 a day. The makeshift 'thelas' that they set up for business are often destroyed by the local authorities. The several pleas made by them to the government often go unheard and they have not received aid yet.