^^ how about you can you layoff for a while?
Burney regrets “half-apology” by Indian government
Nirupama Subramanian
ISLAMABAD: Ansar Burney, the Pakistani human rights activist who was deported from India, said on Saturday the “half-apology” by the
Indian government had pained him even more than the incident itself.
The
Ministry of Home Affairs issued a statement saying Mr. Burney was not deported but “denied entry” on account of “inadequate documentation.” In the same statement, the Ministry said the “inconvenience” to him was “unfortunate and regrettable.” An official from the Ministry External Affairs also called Mr. Burney and spoke to him
The well-known human rights activist, who was instrumental in getting President Pervez Musharraf to pardon Kashmir Singh, an Indian who had spent 30 years on death row in a Pakistani jail — he was at that time a Minister in the 2007-2008 caretaker government — said he was unable to understand what documents he did not have.
“Why apologise to me at all if I was not carrying some required documents? In that case, I should apologise to India. Either they were wrong, or I was wrong. It cannot be both ways. This is a half-apology, and it has caused me more pain,” Mr. Burney told The Hindu from London.
He flew from Dubai where he was sent back by the Indian immigration officials on arrival at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).
Mr. Burney also said there was no difference between “denial of entry” and deportation, as he was marched back into a flight from Dubai on which he had arrived, and which was headed back to the same city.
“
I had a passport stamped with a multiple entry visa for India, and it was with that I travelled to India six weeks ago. I had ceased to be a Minister then. No one stopped me at that time,” he said, demanding to know what additional documents he did not have.
Moreover, notwithstanding the “inadequate documentation,” the Indian official who spoke to him asked him to come back to India.
“
In fact he asked me to come tomorrow. But I have to make up my mind on whether I’ll ever travel to India again. I first want a clarification on what documents I did not have,” Mr. Burney said, adding if something important was missing from his visa, he still did not have it.
Mr. Burney and his family, who run the Ansar Burney Trust that is engaged in prison welfare work, had to face much criticism in Pakistan for being instrumental in Kashmir Singh’s release.
The human rights activist said he was told by journalist friends that perhaps
it was some elements in Pakistan government that had asked the Indian government to deny him entry, because they were unhappy that “I had become such a hero” in India.
He said it was “a matter of great regret” that while Indian officials had spoken to him, not a single Pakistan government official had got in touch with him to find out the facts of the case.
Mr. Burney said his deportation had shocked him. An official sitting at the IGIA immigration counter had almost finished examining his passport, when another official showed up and asked to see it. Mr. Burney was then told to wait in a room. The official returned after 40-45 minutes “with my deportation papers” and told the other officials in the room to put him back on the Dubai flight.
“I could not believe I was being asked to leave by a country that showered so much love on me so recently. In fact, even the immigration officials were apologising to me profusely for this treatment,” he said.
But he also added that the incident would not motivate him to stop working for the welfare of Indian prisoners in Pakistan, or Pakistani prisoners in India. “Please convey through your newspaper that I will continue my work on behalf of these poor people. I don’t believe in revenge.”