Ex-Swiss diplomat deported from Ahmedabad airport as Modi opposes protectionism

By Rajiv Shah
A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi mounted a powerful defense of globalization at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, Switzerland (January 23), in a little known development, India's immigration officials deported a veteran Swiss ex-diplomat from Ahmedabad airport, allegedly without providing any reason as to why they were doing so.
Without naming US President Donald Trump, Modi had said, “Instead of globalization, the power of protectionism is putting its head up.
Bringing the "surprising" incident to light, Kurt Vögele, 75, in his letter dated January 29, 2018, to Sibi George, Indian Ambassador in Switzerland, Berne, says, "While arriving at Ahmedabad Airport I had an awfully bad experience: My visa, which I had obtained by end of December 2017 in Berne, was rejected by the immigration officials."

Kurt Vögele

The letter, copies of which he has sent to Dr I Cassis, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation; A Baum, Ambassador of Switzerland in India; and R Dreifuss, former President of Switzerland, says, "I was just told that I had no right to enter India, that I was blacklisted and that I had to return to Switzerland immediately."
"My insistence on having a valid visa, on wanting to phone my friends who were awaiting me as well as on wanting to know the reasons for my deportation was totally ignored", the letter says, adding, "My arguments, especially my asking for the reasons for this decision were not considered at all. My passport also was not given back to me; it was returned to me only after landing in Geneva", the letter continues.
Calling it a "humiliating experience", and direct result of "an arbitrary decision, not worthy of a country I have learned to respect and appreciate", Vögele recalls, he has lived in India for 13 years in three spells, "mainly in the diplomatic function as Country Director of the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), which is part of the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
Insisting that he has been "wronged, saddened and violated", Vögele says, "I am in a situation where I am prevented from visiting old and profoundly cherished friends, from working and exchanging with them on themes of Human and Institutional Development, from maintaining deep ties as well as from accepting invitations from members of former partners of SDC..."
Apprehending a "connection", Vögele says, "I was informed that my colleague, Josef Imfeld, who was from 2000 to 2005 also at the Swiss Embassy in New Delhi, and who was mainly in charge of regional programmes of SDC, was denied an entry visa for India", adding, "We both are really perplexed and need to know why."

Josef Imfeld

Linked with India since1969, when he started to work with SDC as the Indian Desk Officer in Berne, during his first spell in India (l972-73), Vögele was, among others, in contact with top expert MS Swaminathan, then Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, and conducted a study with the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) on usefulness of crossbreeding in Kerala. Calling it the "first study of its kind in India", the letter says, " It was the beginning of a long, stimulating and enriching relationship with the country where I was able to put all my energy into it and from where I also received a lot. I was among other duties for many years in charge of the Asia Division of SDC in Berne, before my last spell as Country Director (Counsellor) in the Swiss Embassy in Delhi (from 2000 to the end of 2005)."
"In these almost 40 years of my professional relationship with India I could help to develop the programme of SDC in India substantially (for instance partnerships with Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), with NABARD, with MILMA (Malabar Union), Calicut, and the Kerala Institute for Local Administration (Thrissur)", he says.

Comments

Unknown said…

Shocking

February 12, 2018

Medha Patkar said…

It is obvious that Modi government's suspicion has and always have taken over all claims and advantages of globalisation,as in the case of Mr.Kurt.Diplomats too are not spared what about minorities and common people struggling for justice.

February 13, 2018

Uma said…

What a shame!

February 13, 2018

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

Search This Blog