Feeling at Home

Feeling at Home

Recently Iqbal Mirchi a criminal offender in India wanted for the Bombay serial blasts and other crimes died peacefully in his sleep (pun intended) in a country known to be the protector of the federation of vagabonds - Britain.

He was a most wanted person having committed many crimes and killed many people through wanton acts of destruction, besides many other violations of the law. At one time he was counted in the top 50 drug lords of the world and a close confidant of Kingpin and wanted terror organizer, noted mafia king Dawood Ibrahim.

Britain has always been a second home for people avoiding the law in their own countries. However the country while granting staying permits to these vagabonds of the law dismisses them as people facing risk either politically or religiously or people facing human rights violations should they submit to the law in their own countries. Therefore it becomes fundamentally incumbent on the British Government to grant legal protection to such hapless persons under the guise of democracy and democratic traditions.

People who contravene the law in their own countries irrespective of the gravity and penal code under which they are sought to be prosecuted seek the administrative benevolence of Britain to pursue their lives and fight for their beliefs from outside the shores of their motherland. Britain accommodates them within the confines of its legal system to help such people evade the law all in the name of protection of democracy and upholding human rights. Should one of their citizens do the same thing they would definitely seek extradition and want that erring citizen to face the law of the land.

This country has indeed turned a haven for such absconding runaways. There are so many examples of plain criminals, usurpers of the political system, people allegedly facing financial impropriety, political opponents who believe in seizing power albeit through silent coups or other violent means and almost anyone who is a pariah of the law in their own country.

Pervez Musharraf dictator and coup leader of a civilian leader in his own country merrily stays under civilian legal protection when the tide turns against him and he absconds to Britain knowing fully well that the country will welcome him with open arms. Maybe the present President Zardari will think in terms of settling down in Britain after his immunity expires at the end of his presidential term.

Why does Britain afford such luxuries to individuals when logically a crime is a crime and when committed the yardstick for punishment should remain the same irrespective of the country where the protagonist resides as a means to escape or where it is committed. The least they should do is ask such people to leave their shores, but the legal system in Britain protects such runaways in the garb of democracy and democratic rights many a times at great peril to the host nation.

Lalit Modi, first IPL commissioner for the Indian Premier League wanted by the government in India on charge of financial impropriety, flees the country fearing his life. He now airs his views regularly from that country even after the Indian Government has revoked his passport. He claims threat to his life and therefore unable to return to proclaim himself innocent.

These are only some examples, in fact this second home acts as a comfort for the weary who are hounded in their own countries for their beliefs, threat on their life or facing human rights violations. But would the same country happily accept its own citizen abounding in such luxury and carrying on a tirade from foreign shores?

 See what allegations are heaped on Julian Assange, under asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London even while Britain spends a whopping amount to seal his escape. Then again Edward Snowden is forced to seek asylum elsewhere and Bradley Manning is facing the stick for his leak.

Robin Varghese

Mail to: robin_vargh@yahoo.com
August 18, 2013