Palestinian refugee rendered stateless in India - Chennai - City - The Times of India
UDHAGAMANDALAM: More than 4 million Palestinian refugees live in West Asia with UN agency's help, but the story of a 38-year-old Palestinian living in India for 19 years is more poignant than that of his unfortunate compatriots elsewhere. Ibrahim Saleh Ahmad Abu Hamed is stateless and will be homeless, but for some charitable friends in Ooty.
Ibrahim who came to India in September 1991 to pursue a degree in pharmacy but by the time he laboured to complete his course, greater misfortune was in store for him. In 2001, he met with a road accident that put him into coma for over three months. And by the time he recovered, his visa had expired and neither Egypt, which gave him travel documents in the first place, nor any other country came to his aid.
Ibrahim, who is 38 but looks much older, has suffered spells of imprisonment for want of valid papers. He has now found shelter in the neighbourhood of Jamia Masjid', a Muslim shrine in the hill town. "People in and around this place help me with food," he said.
Recounting his story, Ibrahim said he was about 18 when he arrived on a student visa obtained in Saudi Arabia, where his father, a refugee displaced by the Arab-Israeli conflict, was working as a school teacher. As he was weak in English, he took seven years to complete the first two years of his course at JSS College of Pharmacy, Ooty, but finished the third and fourth year without delay. It was October 2000 when he got his results, but he had to wait for some more months to get his degree certificate.
However, on February 10, 2001, riding a scooter at night in poor visibility, he crashed into the railings of a bridge close to Wellington near Ooty. Sustaining a head injury, he slipped into coma. The college management shifted him to a hospital in Coimbatore for advanced treatment and footed the bill amount of Rs three lakh. "The college took care of the entire bill. I was discharged and sent back to Ooty," he recalled.
Tragically for Ibrahim, his travel documents expired as he lay in coma and it could not be renewed thereafter. His stay in the country was rendered illegal. "I didn't get any reply when I approached the Egyptian Embassy as I am a refugee," he said.
His college retained his degree certificate, saying he could get it back only after he reimbursed the medical expenses incurred by the institution. His treatment continued for six years. "People who knew me helped me get food and medicine," he said and added that his father died in 2006. His family had by then moved to Palestine from Saudi Arabia, but the money he was getting from home stopped.
In between he was under detention for two spells for more than three years. And he was also slapped with a notice to leave India. " Financial constraints and deteriorating health have made me helpless."
Nilgiris police superintendent S Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar said Ibrahim's papers had been sent to the Union government through proper channel. "We are waiting for a reply from the government," the SP said. According to the district administration, a reply from the Palestinian government is also awaited so that he could be sent back to Palestine.
However, Ibrahim said with a grin, "I have lived in India for about 20 years. As far as I am concerned, I am 95% Indian." He adds, "I don't want to return home a beggar." But his main regret is that he wakes up with the feeling that he is an illegal resident in India.
UDHAGAMANDALAM: More than 4 million Palestinian refugees live in West Asia with UN agency's help, but the story of a 38-year-old Palestinian living in India for 19 years is more poignant than that of his unfortunate compatriots elsewhere. Ibrahim Saleh Ahmad Abu Hamed is stateless and will be homeless, but for some charitable friends in Ooty.
Ibrahim who came to India in September 1991 to pursue a degree in pharmacy but by the time he laboured to complete his course, greater misfortune was in store for him. In 2001, he met with a road accident that put him into coma for over three months. And by the time he recovered, his visa had expired and neither Egypt, which gave him travel documents in the first place, nor any other country came to his aid.
Ibrahim, who is 38 but looks much older, has suffered spells of imprisonment for want of valid papers. He has now found shelter in the neighbourhood of Jamia Masjid', a Muslim shrine in the hill town. "People in and around this place help me with food," he said.
Recounting his story, Ibrahim said he was about 18 when he arrived on a student visa obtained in Saudi Arabia, where his father, a refugee displaced by the Arab-Israeli conflict, was working as a school teacher. As he was weak in English, he took seven years to complete the first two years of his course at JSS College of Pharmacy, Ooty, but finished the third and fourth year without delay. It was October 2000 when he got his results, but he had to wait for some more months to get his degree certificate.
However, on February 10, 2001, riding a scooter at night in poor visibility, he crashed into the railings of a bridge close to Wellington near Ooty. Sustaining a head injury, he slipped into coma. The college management shifted him to a hospital in Coimbatore for advanced treatment and footed the bill amount of Rs three lakh. "The college took care of the entire bill. I was discharged and sent back to Ooty," he recalled.
Tragically for Ibrahim, his travel documents expired as he lay in coma and it could not be renewed thereafter. His stay in the country was rendered illegal. "I didn't get any reply when I approached the Egyptian Embassy as I am a refugee," he said.
His college retained his degree certificate, saying he could get it back only after he reimbursed the medical expenses incurred by the institution. His treatment continued for six years. "People who knew me helped me get food and medicine," he said and added that his father died in 2006. His family had by then moved to Palestine from Saudi Arabia, but the money he was getting from home stopped.
In between he was under detention for two spells for more than three years. And he was also slapped with a notice to leave India. " Financial constraints and deteriorating health have made me helpless."
Nilgiris police superintendent S Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar said Ibrahim's papers had been sent to the Union government through proper channel. "We are waiting for a reply from the government," the SP said. According to the district administration, a reply from the Palestinian government is also awaited so that he could be sent back to Palestine.
However, Ibrahim said with a grin, "I have lived in India for about 20 years. As far as I am concerned, I am 95% Indian." He adds, "I don't want to return home a beggar." But his main regret is that he wakes up with the feeling that he is an illegal resident in India.
