Detention of PLWHAs: Why this might have happened?

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

I am writing in response to the recent detention of PLWHAs from the Mumbai

Airport.

Five of us traveling from Nairobi were asked to present our yellow fever

certificate by the Kenyan authorities at the airport and it was not a problem at

all. We all including the Indian delegation had a 7 hour transit at Nairobi

before we took another 7 hour flight around 5 in the afternoon. You can imagine

our energy level when we had reached Mumbai around 2 in the morning. The airport

authorities in Mumbai asked us to fill our immigration form though we told them

that we are just on transit and going to Kathmandu via Delhi. We filled the

forms and got in a line. After half an hour or so they pushed us to another

line. At that time I saw some of the Indian friends taken into a room where all

their passports were collected.

We were taken into another line and we made through. But I remember seeing some

of the Indians friends collecting their luggage and told us that they are going

to the hospital for a vaccination. It was not serious by then. As we shared a

joke saying that at least the government is giving them something for free. It

is indeed very sad now to learn that they are still being detained.

Why this might have happened?

1. They wanted to make some money…..

It is most unfortunate to say this but this is usually the attitude of most of

the people in airports…. When we were flying in from Mumbai to Kenya on our way

to Kampala the airport people asked us to pay $6 each as a " War Tax " they said

that there is a war going on somewhere so we need to pay this…when we made some

noise they decided to let us go without paying the War Tax.

We (Nepali group) were not asked for the yellow fever vaccination certificate or

a waiver. We were not only on transit by then since the Mumbai immigration had

stamped our passport as arrival and we were outside the airport terminal as

anyone entering India. (Nepalese do not need visa for India).

Thus if they (Mumbai immigration) still hold an argument based on yellow fever

vaccination it is a mere lie. We would also be on detention if it were so.

My conclusion is that our friends who are in detention now are because they

refused to pay money, they further had to go thru hard times because they were

PLWHAs who the authority thinks that do not have a voice or power to respond to.

This is enough…. and we shall never talk about equal rights and so on never

again. We are sorry friends !!

Rajiv

E-mail: <rajhiv2002@...>