Author:
Publication: The Navhind Times,
Panaji, Goa
Dated: February 12, 2001
Hindu refugees fleeing religious
fanaticism and the civil war in Afghanistan may have found shelter in Germany,
but they have complained of extreme difficulties in securing visas to India.
Hindu refugees in Germany lament
they are being prevented by India's red-tape from maintaining their "spiritual
links" with India. Not only are they not allowed to visit holy
places in India, they are also prevented from immersing the ashes of their
dead in the Ganges, as prescribed by the Hindu faith.
There are some 8,000 Afghan Hindus
in Germany, mostly in Hamburg, Frankfurt, Essen and Cologne. Cologne alone
has two Afghan Hindu organisations, each of which has set up a Hindu temple.
Mr. Kewal Nagpal, who had an import-export
business in Afghanistan and now works as an administrator of a Hindu temple
in Cologne run by an Afghan asso ciation called the Afghanische Hindu Gemeinde,
lost his mother four-and-a-half months back. Her ashes are
lying in an urn in a funeral home in Cologne. Under Hindu rites, Mr. Nagpal
said, the ashes should have been immersed within 10 days of cremation.
"I get terrible dreams in which she appears and seems to tell me her soul
is, not at peace," Mr. Nagpal told IANS.
Mr. Nagpal pays Deustche Mark 40
as storage charges for the urn at the funeral home as he can't keep the
ashes in his house, according to Hindu faith. He would like to take the
ashes to Haridwar to immerse them in the Ganges. Apparently, the Indian
government refused to grant him a visa because of "security reasons," he
was told by the Indian embassy in Bonn.
Afghan Hindus are denied visas as
India, driven by security concerns, has its security specialists screen
such applications. This can take anywhere between 6 weeks to a year.
There have been a total of 15 deaths among Afghan Hindus in Germany, and
none has been allowed to bring the ashes to India for immersion.
Applications by Afghan nationals
are subject to strict screening by the Indian government before visas can
issued to them. Many Afghan Hindu refugees hold stateless identity
cards issued by the German government. However, the Indian embassy
does not recognise the card. A special clearance is needed
from Delhi before a visa can be issued.
Afghan Hindu, Mr. Prem Kumar, who
lives in Unkel near Koblenz, frustrated with the attitude of Indian consular
officials in Bonn, sent his mother's ashes to a distant relative in India
by mail. Mr. Kumar, according to the AHG, is not sure till
today whether the ashes were, in fact, immersed in the Ganges. "The uncertainty
will probably haunt Prem for the rest of his life." an AHG member said.
Afghan Hindus say they would certainly
not like to see India's security compromised in any way, but they would
like to have a more humanitarian and unbureaucratc approach from the Indian
government to their problem.
"We understand the concern of the
Indian government and that it has to take precautions against potential
terrorists, but we are non-political. Our only fault is we were born
in Afghanistan. How can we change that fact? And because of
this, how can the Indian government deny us permission to visit holy places
and perform rites important to us as Hindus?" asks Mr. Gobindram Batheja,
who owned a dry-fruit business in Afghanistan and now lives on the fringes
in Cologne.
The Indian ambassador to Germany,
Mr. Ronen Sen, had met Afghan Hindus on December last year to explain that
because of security reasons, all cases of visa applications had to be first
referred to Delhi. Mr. Sen asked AHG to submit a letter addressee
to him seeking a relaxation of visa procedures on compassionate grounds.
AHG president, Mr. Menghraj Jawa
has also made representations to the Indian External Affairs Minister,
Mr. Jaswant Singh for consideration of their applications.
Although the German government is
not even familiar with rites prescribed by the Hindu faith, it has shown
remarkable sensitivity to our needs and allowed us to set up our place
of worship.
