Refugees, Migration, and Conflicts in South Asia

It will further shed light on conflicts, violence, and developments in South Asian societies. The interconnectivity between conflicts, violence, and development in South Asian society has had a mixed effect. Much has been said and written about the South Asian refugee problem. This book attempts to portray how migration and refugee problems have impacted the politics and policy development of the region.

There are six specific objectives of the book: First, to present an interconnected conceptual and theoretical outline for a clear understanding of refugees, migration, and illegal migration in South Asia. Second, to offer a vast and critical analysis about the problems, human security, livelihoods, and legal issues of various refugee groups in South Asia. Third, to present a clear view about illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the state of West Bengal in India for a better understanding of socio-political and security issues. Fourth, we have placed special emphasis on women’s migration from some of these South Asian states. We present a wide spectrum of outward women’s migration of South Asia, and we analyse the issue of women’s migration through the prisms of economic empowerment, dignity, and human security. Fifth, to investigate the reasons for outward migration in a war-torn and ethnic conflicts-prone economically vulnerable country. Final, we relate the reasons for refugee flow and migration to ethnic conflicts and violence. This book critically addresses the major conflicts in South Asia and will look for a link between violence and development. The fundamental argument of this book is that state policies are mostly responsible for refugee problems and migration problems, violence, and conflicts that result in uneven or lopsided development and poverty.

Apart from the above-stated objectives, this book provides a comparative study of policy implementations of South Asian countries in pursuance of refugee problems. In the South Asian context, it is very difficult to distinguish between refugees and migrants. In this study, we have also made efforts to delineate illegal migration from refugee problems. We have tried to reach as many migrant respondents as we can to interview them and understand the challenges they face as a refugee or migrant.

Debasish Nandy & Sajal Roy

The authors are immensely grateful to Alik Naha, Vidyasagar College, Kolkata, Joyprakash Mondal, PhD Research Scholar, Kazi Nazrul University, West Bengal, India, and Rahul Thanadar, Bashirhat College, West Bengal, India for their input. During our study, we interacted with many dignitaries and migrants to collect data and obtain interpretation and understanding. It is a very difficult task to collect data on migration and refugees. Some people helped us to collect the relevant facts. Most of them did not agree to disclose their names. The authors are thankful to all of them. We are thankful to our family members for their continuous support and encouragement.

The authors are thankful to the authority of Peter Lang International Academic Publishers for giving us the opportunity to publish our manuscript. We are especially thankful to Suma George and Na Li for their sincere cooperation and coordination. We are grateful to other dignitaries of Peter Lang for their assistance.

Debasish Nandy & Sajal Roy