Books | Humanity Above All

How we treat refugees has a bearing on how we treat our own people’, says Nandita Haksar at the release of her new book

Smruti Deshpande

Nandita Haksar, a practising human rights lawyer, campaigner and teacher has written a new book Forgotten Refugees: Two Iraqi Brothers in India. The book is published by Speaking Tiger. A pre-release discussion on this book was held on March 25 at Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWCP) in New Delhi. Haksar was in conversation with FORCE’s Executive Editor, Ghazala Wahab.

The book narrates the story of two Iraqi brothers, Babil and Akkad, who came to India in 2014. Haksar, who has been dealing with refugees from 1990, met them outside the gate of UNHCR in November 2021. The two refugees were among those who were camping on the road outside the UNHCR office.

Refugees stood outside the office, angry, shouting slogans, but the UNHCR’s door was firmly closed and barricaded. Outside the UNHCR, a number of refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Somalia, Congo and different parts of Africa were demonstrating. The author struck a conversation with these refugees and asked them why they had come all the way to India. They replied: “We came to India because we thought this was a liberal country. We thought of India as a home where we would be accepted; a tolerant country.” Speaking about her work and what made her write this book