Afghanistan Future: Lives of innocents depend on ‘rehmon karam’ of Taliban

With the complete withdrawal of the US armed forces and the NATO from Afghanistan by next month, the countries have started remolding their foreign policy with Kabul intending to make peace with Taliban – a major military force in the country. But has any ounce of thought been given to what will happen to the thousands of innocent civilians whose lives and future is on the “rehmon karam” of the Taliban militants? While last week the Taliban claimed to have had occupied 85% of Afghanistan after capturing key border crossings with Iran and Turkmenistan, this week the militants seized a key town in the southern Kandahar province that is the country’s major border crossing with Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Former US President George W Bush has criticized the withdrawal of the American troops and said that the civilians will be “slaughtered” by the Taliban.” He had sent the troops to Afghanistan in 2001 after the September 11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Centre. During a conversation with German broadcaster Deutsche Well on Wednesday, he said. "Afghan women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm. This is a mistake... They're just going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal people, and it breaks my heart.” While leaving a petrifying future for the innocent Afghans, US President Joe Biden last week said, “As I said in April, the United States did what we went to do in Afghanistan: to get the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and to deliver justice to Osama Bin Laden, and to degrade the terrorist threat to keep Afghanistan from becoming a base from which attacks could be continued against the United States. We achieved those objectives. That’s why we went.” He further said, “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build. And it’s the right and the responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country.” Well, questions that Biden must answer are – Has the goal to “keep Afghanistan from becoming a base from which attacks could be continued against the United States” been achieved? Is there no longer a possible threat of more Osama Bin Laden in the days to come? And most importantly, is it not the responsibility of the international community to assure safety to the innocent Afghans? According to an AP report, as the Taliban surge through northern Afghanistan — a traditional stronghold of US - allied warlords and an area dominated by the country’s ethnic minorities — thousands of families are fleeing their homes, fearful of living under the insurgents’ rule. As per the Afghan government’s Refugee and Repatriations Ministry, “In the last 15 days, Taliban advances have driven more than 5,600 families from their homes, most of them in the northern reaches of the country.” In this week’s interview with Time of India, General David Petraeus, who served as the commander of coalition forces and headed the US central command in the war-ravaged country in 2011, opined that the US “will come to regret” the decision to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. He said, “I fear the decision to withdraw has consigned Afghanistan to a bloody civil war, and is likely to produce millions of refugees, cause damage to infrastructure and foist an ultra-conservative theocratic regime over much of the country that curtails the rights of women, democratic processes and human rights.” Since late June hundreds of Afghan soldiers have fled their homeland for a safe haven in Tajikistan. AFP reported the Tajikistan's national security committee as saying that 1,037 Afghan government troops had fled into the ex-Soviet country "to save their lives" after clashes with the Taliban during the night. "Taking into account the principle of good neighbourliness and adhering to the position of non-interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, the military personnel of the Afghan government forces were allowed to enter Tajik territory," said the statement, published by Tajikistan's state information agency. AFP further said that Afghan security forces have been crumbling in the face of the Taliban onslaught, with several bases and outposts surrendering to the insurgents without firing a shot. Further, the diplomatic officials have told The Hindu that the Central Asian countries gathering for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Dushanbe are in particular worried about the possible spillover of violence across their borders with Afghanistan, revival of splinter jihadist groups and a refugee influx if the situation deteriorates. However, as the Taliban continues its operation of bringing key areas of Afghanistan under its control, several countries seem to have “preferred” to strike a peace deal with the militant group rather than launching a full scale war against it. Last week, a Taliban delegation had visited Moscow and assured that “it would not violate the borders of Central Asian states and also guaranteed the security of foreign diplomatic and consular missions in Afghanistan”, according to a Reuters report. The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday quoted British Defense Minister Ben Wallace as saying that his government will work with the Taliban should they enter the government in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Afghan government instead of waiting for a savior to rescue the country has already begun its preparation to launch a full-scale war against Taliban if July 15 peace talks in Qatar fail. Kabul has also cleared its stance that it will no longer allow foreign troops on its land to fight against Taliban. "Should we not get to a stage in the peace process with the Taliban, then maybe a time (will come) where we would be seeking India's military assistance, more military assistance in the years ahead," Farid Mamundzay, Afghanistan's Ambassador to India, told NDTV. "We are not seeking India's assistance with sending troops to Afghanistan. Their footprint in Afghanistan to fight our war would not be needed at this stage," he clarified.

Xi Jinping: Mess with us and face bloodshed

As calls for a fresh investigation into the origins of coronavirus amplifies and the global leaders join hands to tackle China's growing threat, President Xi Jinping on the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has publicly threatened of “bloodshed" if anyone tried to mess with Beijing. According to NDTV, in the summer of 1921 Mao and a clutch of Marxist-Leninist thinkers in Shanghai founded the Communist Party, which has since morphed into one of the world's most powerful political organisations. Speaking from the podium in Tiananmen Square where once Mao Zedong had proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1949, Xi said, "The Chinese people will never allow any foreign forces to bully, oppress, or enslave us". "Anyone who dares try to do that will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of Steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people," he added. According to BBC, Xi Jinping, modern China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, wore a light grey suit which appeared to be identical to the one worn by the Communist Party founder in the famous portrait that adorns one side of Tiananmen Square. During the ceremony a fly-by of helicopters in formation of '100' -- a giant hammer and sickle flag trailing -- was followed by a 100-gun salute. BBC further reported that at the end of the ceremony, the crowd sung a song called "Without the Communist Party There Would Be No New China". The CCP has organised a week-long celebration promoting Beijing-approved history. According to AFP news agency, the Chinese history did not include significant events such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. However, a huge police force did patrol the streets of Hong Kong to prevent any protest against Beijing or Xi Jinping. According to a NDTV report, four activists marched with a banner near the official anniversary reception on Thursday -- tailed by 200 police officers, a fraction of the thousands deployed across the city to deter pro-democracy groups from mobilising. It is interesting to note here that July 1 is also the 24th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the Chinese rule. Meanwhile, it has also been one year since the draconian national security law (to smother free speech) was imposed in Hong Kong. Under this law thousands of pro-democracy Hong Kong activists have been arrested till now. China has been rebuked globally for cracking down on Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters and Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. Lithuania is the latest to have termed the human rights abuses on the ethnic minorities as 'genocide'. Meanwhile, during the centenary celebrations in Tiananmen Square, Xi reiterated that China will have an "unshakable commitment" to unify with Taiwan. "No one should underestimate the resolve, the will and ability of the Chinese people to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said. Xi’s comments on Taiwan have come a day after the US reiterated that it would continue to strengthen its relationship with Taipei. "Our support for Taiwan is rock solid," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a news conference in Washington, reported Taipei Times. "We're committed to the importance of the US-Taiwan trade and investment relationships, and we will continue to strengthen our trade relationship with Taiwan, which is why we are looking forward to the upcoming Trade and Investment Framework Agreement council meeting, which was recently announced," Psaki said.

PM Modi remains missing from duty as Indians cry for help amid pandemic

 

PM Modi: Missing

A whole year has gone by since the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world. While several countries such as Israel, Australia, New Zealand and even the US has somewhat been able to bring back the pre-covid ‘era’, India continues to struggle in vaccinating its adult citizens.

With the beginning of 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced massive vaccination drive and Vaccine Maitri to support India’s neighbouring countries and African nations amid the pandemic. However, soon India, which was manufacturing two vaccines – Covaxin and Covishield – started facing a devastating crunch in number of vaccines for its own citizens.

Besides shortage of vaccines, India is also facing a crisis in number of oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators, hospital beds and even crematoriums. While lakhs of people are racing against time to save themselves and their loved ones, the Narendra Modi-led government, which has been busy holding massive rallies to with oust Mamata Banerjee in the West Bengal Assembly elections held earlier this year, is now focused on completing its Rs 20,000 crore worth Central Vista Project.

The Central Vista project is aimed to redevelop a 3.2 km stretch ‘the Central Vista’ lying at the heart of Lutyens Delhi. Under the project several government buildings will be either tore down or rebuilt, including iconic landmarks, and constructing a new Parliament. The constructions of the Prime Minister and Vice President’s residences are also part of the project.

While the Centre’s deemed ‘essential service’ continues to progress at a good speed, it has been ridiculed from all quarters of society. Recently, the Centre told the Delhi High Court that Public Interest Litigations against the Central Vista project is "sheer abuse of the process of law" and thus the plea should be scrapped with a fine.

Amid the ever increasing criticisms, the Central Public Works Department has now prohibited photography and video recording at the Central Vista construction work near India Gate.

While on the one hand the Centre is engrossed with its project to renovate the central Delhi, almost everyday hundreds of dead bodies, supposedly to be of COVID-19 patients, are washing up on the ghats of holy river Ganga.

According to a recent report by Dainik Bhaskar, more than 2,000 bodies have been found in 1,140 kms on the bank of river Ganga in Uttar Pradesh.

The newspaper further reported that as many as 350 bodies were found buried near Mahadevi Ganga Ghat in Kannauj. Citing sources the newspaper reported that the administration is trying to hide the bodies by putting soil on them.

Earlier, The Indian Express had reported, “At least 96 unidentified bodies – many of them decomposed and bloated – have been found floating in the Ganga over the past couple of days, triggering fears among local residents in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh that bodies of Covid victims were being dumped in the river.”

The authorities are yet to confirm whether the bodies found floating on Ganga are indeed of COVID-19 patients. However, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has condemned the incident and said, “Floating bodies in Ganga in Buxar, Bihar is unfortunate. It is surely a matter of investigation. [Narendra] Modi government is committed to maintaining piety and continuity of mother Ganga. States [Bihar and UP] concerned must take cognizance of the matter immediately”.

While the Narendra Modi-led government continues to be missing from duty amid the pandemic, the panic stricken public has no option other than to pin their hopes on the Centre to bring down the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Are all Rohingya terrorists?

On May 22 the Amnesty International released a report provingRohingya militants – ArakanRohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) –had indeedkilled as many as 99 Hindu civilians in a single day of carnage on August 25, 2017 – sparing only eight women and eight children who they abducted and forced them to convert to Islam.The report has brought different reactions from several quarters of the political thinkers and leaders. While some critiques questioned the authenticity and timing of the report, for others this report served as ‘perfect’ excuse to blame and despise the whole Rohingya community.

The ArakanRohingya Salvation Army, better known as ARSA, operate in northern Myanmar, where the Rohingya have since several decades faced persecution from the hands of its own country’s government. Last year the ARSA attacked police posts in Rakhine state, thus, killing about 12 people, according to then released reports. Post this attack the military with the government launched large scale retaliation on the community. This retaliation led to lakhs of Rohingyaflee their homes, cross dangerous forests and minefields and water in rickety boats to seek safety in Bangladesh. While this mass exodus led to countries competing against each other on who condemns the incident first, UN called it as ‘textbook example of ethnic cleansing’.

Last month the Amnesty International brought out a new disturbing fact. It highlighted that the ARSA is also guilty of killingcivilians. The group was responsible for killing 99 Hindu civilians in a single day last year.  This new finding stirred a whole new topic of discussion – Should all Rohingya be counted as a threat?

Though this new finding’s authenticity is under scanner, this report has been hailed by both the Myanmar government as well as some of reputed political organizations of India. ZawHtay, a Myanmar government spokesman, welcomed the Amnesty report’s conclusions.

This report’s release has led to an outburst of statements and articles by some of India’s eminent personalities. Recently PrashantBhushan, a senior lawyer who has been fighting the Indian government’s plan to deport 40,000 Rohingya refugees said, “Horrendous and unforgivable. Rohingya militants have massacred hundreds of Hindus in Myanmar. Rohingya in Myanmar have been victims of a terrible genocide. But that is no justification for attacking innocent people. Rohingya will lose public sympathy if this happens.”

In a recent editorial piece ‘Rohingya shadow over Myanmar Hindus’ in a reputed English daily by Sandhya Jain, a Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, questioned logic of rehabilitation even when the role of Rohingya militants having massacred Hindus have been proven. She also cited some reports of intelligence agencies that have commented on Rohingya militants having ties with groups like Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-Tayyeba and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). She, through her article, tried to pull the attention of the world from Rohingya to the plight of Hindus in Myanmar which was being ignored by the world while the Rohingya got sympathy.

Recently even the Indian Government in fear Rohingyamuslims being a security threat to the country issued certain directives like confining them to pre-identified places and not issuing them id proofs but maintaining biometric details of all illegal Rohingya. This ‘fear’ is ironical as till now much to the surprise of the government the Rohingya preferred Jammu over Kashmir. Also till now such fear have never seem to exist towards illegal Hindus and Muslims who have been entering India from Bangaldesh since past many decades.

Though the attack on Hindus by Rohingya and the plight of Hindus living in Myanmar is unthinkable and the fear of Rohingya militants seeping into India scares every citizen yet both these statements and article have missed out or rather ignored the essential facts. Both have included the whole Rohingya community into the Rohingya militant group. Also the fact that MsSandhya Jain seems to miss is that there is huge wide difference between the plight of Rohingya and plight of Hindus in Myanmar. The difference merely lies in the constitutional status that the Myanmar government has granted to both these ethnic minorities.

Once Dr MaungZarni, a Human Rights activist and scholar, had said, “In Myanmar, we have taken up a Nazi frame of mind. If anyone would understand what if happening to Rohingya, it would be you, the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, the survivors and their families.”

Loose words not enough solve Rohingya crisis

In 2016, the world witnessed massive exodus of Syrians and in 2017 Rohingya are fleeing to escape rape and death from the hands of their own country’s military and Buddhists chauvinists. Soon in response to this, world political leaders and stalwarts joined the chorus of outrage at Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung san suu kyi. While all are busy criticising Suu kyi - the Nobel laureate and erstwhile champion of the oppressed - for refusing to condemn the army and its actions, US seems have hit the bull’s eye.

The Rohingya community has been facing persecution since 1970s. When the junta Government finally accepted Aung san suu kyi’s NLD party’s victory in 2015 polls, a ray of hope to finally see the end of decade long persecution shone in the eyes of Rohingya people. Everyone hailed her heroic resistance to the junta Government for democracy and the cause of humanity.

Yet Suu kyi refuses to call the country’s main Muslim community by its name. She has diligently refused to condemn atrocities by the military Government. And when after ten weeks of the ruthless crackdown by the Myanmar's army that drove more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims from their homes, the country's de facto leader finally visited the scene, telling people not to "quarrel".

While the world opted to walk in a singular fashion of condemning and snatching away honorary degrees from suu kyi, US, however, has stopped short in calling the atrocities as textbook example of ethnic cleansing, and called for putting sanctions on Myanmar’s military government as under the Myanmar constitution the military and not the civilian government holds three key ministries – Defence, Border and Home Affairs. According to many, US not calling the atrocities on Rohingya as - textbook example of ethnic cleansing or such similar synonymous words - is highly inappropriate. But US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says, “What's most important to us is the world can't just stand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that are being reported in that area." “We really hold the military leadership accountable for what's happening with the Rakhine area," Tillerson said on October 18.

Recently, Washington announced that it will end military aid to some Myanmar units involved in the forced displacement of the Rohingya minority. Some weeks ago US senator Edward John Markey called on the administration to put Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the Myanmar military, on the “SDN list” — the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List — which blocks assets of the person in question and curtails their travel. “Putting Gen. Min on the SDN list,” Markey said, “would send a clear signal to those responsible for these atrocities that they cannot act with impunity.”

Recently, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States will not permit units and officers involved in operations in Myanmar’s Rakhine State to receive or participate in any US assistance programmes. The United States has even rescinded invitations for senior Burmese security forces to attend U.S.-sponsored events and urged Myanmar to grant the international observers and media unrestricted access to the sites of alleged abuses. The state department has also halted its consideration of travel waivers for senior Myanmar military leaders and is now considering to target economic measures against individuals, along with targeted sanctions, like freezing assets of senior Burmese military officials and suspending all business with the military and its affiliates. “We are assessing authorities under the JADE Act to consider economic options available to target individuals associated with atrocities,” Nauert said, referring to the 2008 Block Burmese JADE (Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act.

According to many experts, the recent visit by Aung san suu kyi (though a hoax) with one of Myanmar’s wealthiest businessmen was in response to the proposed sanctions and travel restrictions on Myanmar military officers accused of orchestrating atrocities that human rights group say amount to crimes against humanity.

In a recent chat with me, Rafiq Dossani, Director, RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy, said that targeting sanctions, even if in a limited way, would have a large effect since it would signal that the US is placing humanitarianism on the agenda and that more sanctions will follow.

Well, while we, and especially the Rohingya, wait in desperation of some action and not loose words against the Myanmar’s military government from our esteemed political leaders and UN, right now all beseeching eyes are looking forward the upcoming visit to Myanmar by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson where he will to push for an end to the violence that has plagued the country's northern Rakhine state in recent months. He will visit the country's capital, Naypyidaw, where he will meet with senior leaders and officials on actions to address the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State.

Olympics go for change!!

Vladimir Zworykin after inventing television had said, “I didn’t even dream it would be so good. But I would never let my children come close to the thing”. Though these words were intended to mean something else, however, they do speak the emotions of refugees who will be participating in upcoming Olympics.

While the world organisations are lending helping hands to refugees, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will be providing some refugees a chance to participate in the upcoming 2016 Games. “I think we are all touched and moved by the magnitude of the current worldwide refugee crisis. The Olympic Games are the time when the values of tolerance, solidarity and peace are brought to life. This is the time when the international community comes together for peaceful competition,” IOC President Thomas Bachsaid.This plan was first announced last year the IOC in United Nations General Assembly.

This time the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro has drifted from its age old tradition of torch relay of athletes marching in under the flags of the nations they're representing. For the first time there will be a new team that will have no flag to call its own and no country to call their own – Refugee Olympic Athletes (ROA).

The torch relay for the Olympic Games, that will be held in August, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro will also have a stop at a refugee camp in the Greek capital, Athens, where a refugee will carry the torch, the IOC announced.

The IOC has earlier this yearpublicilyidentified three refugee athletes. They are: RahelehAsemani (Iran) – Taekwondo (proposed by the Belgian NOC (National Olympic committee)); MisengaPopole (Democratic Republic of the Congo) – Judo (proposed by the Brazilian NOC); Yusra Mardini (Syria) – Swimming (proposed by the German NOC). Recently a press conference in Berlin was held wherein one of the atheletes – Yusra Mardini recounted her treacherous journey and how she got selected by\ the Olympics committee.

Like many others Syrians, Yusra Mardini and several members of her family travelled across Lebanon and Turkey, and then endured a potentially life-threatening passage to the Greek Island of Lesbos before beginning their travels across numerous European borders before arriving at the German capital.

Soon after arriving in Germany, Yusra was introduced to Wasserfreunde Spandau 04, a swimming club based near her refugee centre. She also mentioned her days of training as a swimmer. “The war was hard; sometimes we couldn’t train because of the war. Or sometimes you had training but there was a bomb in the swimming pool,” she said.

Bach says, "Having no national team to belong to, having no flag to march behind, having no national anthem to be played, these refugee athletes will be welcomed to the Olympic Games with the Olympic flag and with the Olympic Anthem. They will have a home together with all the other 11,000 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees in the Olympic village."

This new team, ROA, as the committee say “will be treated at the Olympic Games like all other teams”. “By welcoming the team of Refugee Olympic Athletes to the Olympic Games Rio 2016, we want to send a message of hope for all refugees in our world,” Bach said. 

“In the Olympic Village we see tolerance and solidarity in their purest form. Athletes from all 206 National Olympic Committees live together in harmony and without any kind of discrimination,” he said while adding “We want to give the refugees the opportunity to mix with each other. Here you saw refugees from Syria, from Mali, from Sierra Leone, from Iran, from Iraq, all playing together with us and really showing a small Olympic community here in this camp”.

The team will get an entourage, including Chef de Mission, coaches and technical officials, by the IOC to meet all the required technical needs. The uniforms will also be provided by the IOC.

To what drove them to this step, Bach recollected his visit to the refugee camp in Athenswhere he played soccer with a group of young men, and met potential candidates who could compete for the first time as refugee athletes at the Rio Games.

“At present none of these athletes would have the chance to participate in the Olympic Games even if qualified from the sports point of view because, with their refugee status, they are left without a home country and National Olympic Committee to represent.

The ROA team is expected to number between 5-10 athletes. The full list of the participating athletes will be announced by the IOC Executive Board in June.

Bach had also announced that the Hellenic Olympic Committee  would receive an additional sum for the regeneration of the Moria Football Stadium on Lesbos (it is a prime landing spot for those fleeing conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan) island for use by the thousands of refugees there.

At a time when the lakhs of people from Syria are struggling to enter their new phase of life while their hearts are weeping for their old homes, this news definitely needs a thumbs up and salute to the Olympic Committee.Jacques Rogge, IOC's honorary president, who is also the UN's Special Envoy for Youth Refugees and Sport, rightly says "Sport can heal many wounds. Sport can bring them hope; can help to forge their ideas and to integrate in society.”

Are the refugees truly at fault??

The morning of March 22 began like any other morning when sudden explosions tore through the Brussels subwaysystem and the departures hall of the city’s airport in an attack claimed by ISIS. With these blasts the hope and future of thousands of stranded Muslim refugees also become bleak.

While the world was rocked to the core, a

21-year-old refugee from Damascus had a different reaction. Sitting in his tent in the centre of the camp his face became all tensed when he saw the newson the screen of his Sony Ericsson mobile phone. He started sending messages about it to his friends. “God knows what will happen tomorrow,” he typed in one text, even as another took shape in his head: “For us it will get worse.”

Some months back when the same kind of attack was seen by the France citizens, while the world mourned the attacks,the consequences were faced by the innocent refugees.After a group of terrorists struck in Paris on November 13, leaving 130 people dead, it only took a few days for the backlash to reach the asylum seekers on Greece’s northern border. Before the Paris attacks, about 5,000 a day were crossing that frontier into Macedonia on their way to Western Europe. These numbers began to shrink after the attack as that pathway began to close.

From the eyes of these refugees, who with reason see themselves as victims of terror too, this reaction was perverse as many of them had to leave the comfort of their homes because of the same terrorist group now targeting European capitals. Yet those refugees have found themselves punished for the atrocities that ISIS committed in Europe.

The punishment often takes the form of new fences and increased border guards, out of concerns over security and fears that a terrorist might slip in among the migrants. For example, after the Brussels attack the immediate response of the Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo was - Poland cannot take part in the EU’s migrant relocation scheme. “Twenty eight EU countries agreed to solve the issue through relocation. But I will say it very clearly: I do not see it possible to allow migrants in Poland at the moment,” Szydlo told the Superstacja TV broadcaster.

She even went on criticising German chancellor Angela Merkel for having “invited migrants to Europe.” “This carefree attitude led to the problems that we have today,” she said by adding “We cannot agree that thousands of migrants, who come to improve their lives, flow into Europe. There are also terrorists among them.”

All these statements go against the prescribed International laws on refugees. Under Article 33 of the 1951 Refugee Convention the countries have an obligation that they cannot return a refugee to a country of territory where h/she would be at risk of persecution. It clearly states, “No Contracting State shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”

Besides the law the fact that several political observers and both Paris and Brussel’s citizens have pointed out is that there was clear lax in security in both the cases. In the case of Paris attack, The Washington Postreported “Poor information sharing among intelligence agencies, a threadbare system for tracking suspects across open borders and an unmanageable long list of home-grown extremists to monitor all gave the Paris plotters an opening to carry out the deadliest attack on French soil in more than half a century.” Similarly in Brussel’s attack, Time had said “Even as Belgians absorb From Tuesday’s bloodbath, there is a clear and unsettling sense that intelligence and security services have been caught badly short in confronting the lethal dangers closing in their small country.”

However, as the psychologists sayduring grave situations all senses of what is right and factual and what is wrong and impractical go obscure. Hence, one can say that these responses are very much natural. After the attacks in Brussels, as after those in Paris, the Europeans were bound to face the temptation to put reasoning aside and conflate the foreign victims of terror with its homegrown perpetrators. Now even in Greece, who figured in the list of countries welcoming migrants from the Muslim world, some are expecting a turn toward religious and racial profiling after the bombings in Brussels. “Given the religion of the overwhelming majority of those coming or attempting to come to Europe, many will hasten to connect Islamist terrorism with the immigration issue,” the liberal Greek newspaper Kathimerini said in an editorial.

“It created a domino effect,” says Emilias Dounias, the chief of logistics at the Idomeni camp for the international charity Doctors Without Borders. After the Paris attacks, they closed the border for all nationalities except Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who were trying to travel north from Greece to claim asylum in Western Europe. “They blocked Moroccans, Libyans, African people,” he says. “It was a wave.” And in the months that followed, this wave of border closures created the squalid camp at Idomeni, as thousands of migrants were bottlenecked in northern Greece.

Hence, for these refugees each attack is going to cost their future. As every time an attack happens the future is again and again going to be thrown into question.