With Australia preparing to send 157 Sri Lankan asylum seekers, including 50 children, to India, the government today said it will "certainly welcome back" Indians, if there were any. The government said that as for others, it will take a call only after seeing if they are within the ambit of international convention that India has signed and that have been integrated into Indian law. Noting that this matter has been addressed by the Ministry of Home Affairs twice, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said that they have indicated that all Indian nationals, if there are any, will certainly be welcomed back.
"If there are any others, who we are bound by international laws, in accordance with our own regulations, we will accept them. That is where we stand," he told reporters at his weekly press conference. He pointed out that the same applies for other countries who are involved in this. "As far as we are concerned, we have made it clear that as far as all Indian nationals are considered, they are welcome. As regard other nationals, if they are within the ambit of any international convention that India has signed and has integrated into our laws," his or her plea would be looked into. At this stage we have not reached that process, he added.
A group of 157 Sri Lankan asylum seekers, including 50 children, were transferred to a detention centre this Sunday by the Australian government, after being told that they would have to navigate their own way home. The asylum seekers were intercepted in the Indian Ocean in June, apparently having set sail for Australia from India, and held at sea for a month by Australian officials. They were allegedly locked in a windowless room with little food or water, in what lawyers acting on their behalf have described as a "harrowing and traumatic" experience, The Guardian reported.
