New Delhi says no to London

MoU on deporting illegals

Immigration officials in India said they have come across several cases of
deportation from UK, where the people are actually from Bangladesh,
Pakistan, Afghanistan or Sri Lanka
Written by Rahul Tripathi | New Delhi | Published:May 3, 2017 4:48 am

Narendra Modi with Theresa May. File

AHEAD OF the first India-UK home affairs dialogue on May 4, New Delhi is learnt to have
rejected Londons proposal to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on immigration and
organised crime, which includes a provision for deportation of illegal Indian immigrants.
According to government sources, London was keen to formalise the agreement Cooperation
and exchange of information for the purpose of combating international criminality, tackling
serious organised crime and pursuing immigration functions.
In December last year, they provided a draft of the agreement, but (Indian) security agencies
pointed out that some of the clauses were against Indians settled in UK, said a senior
government official. According to information shared by UK authorities with their Indian
counterparts, there are nearly 35,000 illegal Indian immigrants in different parts of Europe.
London conveyed that there is an urgent need to deport these people.
But immigration officials in India said they have come across several cases of deportation from
UK, where the people are actually from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan or Sri Lanka. They
claim to be Indian in the hope that they will be treated well. But without any proper documents,
it is very difficult to establish their country of origin, said an official on condition of anonymity.
So the home ministry may propose a joint mechanism to re-draft the MoU. The UK delegation
led by Patsy Wilkinson, second permanent secretary, British Home Office, is expected to hold
consultations with Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi here on Thursday. Wilkinson is
responsible for immigration policy.
Officials said extradition requests, including that related to liquor baron Vijay Mallya, will be on
top of the agenda during the dialogue. A team of CBI-ED is already in London to expedite
Mallyas extradition. Besides Mallya, there are nine other extradition requests pending with UK
Rajesh Kapoor, Tiger Hanif, Atul Singh, Raj Kumar Patel, Jatinder Kumar Angurala, Asha
Rani Angurala, Sanjeev Kumar Chawla, Shaik Sadiq and Ashok Malik.
During the bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Theresa
May in November last year, India came up with a list of nearly 60 fugitives who are suspected to
be hiding in Britain. UK also provided a list of 17 people whose custody it seeks under the
Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty or against whom Letters Rogatory have been issued.
India and Britain are also expected to discuss cooperation on international terrorism, organised
crime and visa matters. The two countries are likely to extend agency-to-agency cooperation in
matters related to international terrorism, particularly on the Islamic States online propaganda.
The issue of visas under different categories, including medical, tourism, business, is also likely
to be taken up during the bilateral dialogue.