NEW DELHI: A former Swiss diplomat Kurt Vogele was deported from India soon after he landed despite having a valid visa because he had been “blacklisted.” Vogele was to visit Gujarat on an invitation from Gagan Sethi, a social activist heading NGO Janvikas, and associated with others like Dalit Foundation and Centre for Social Justice.
On January 22, 75-yearold Vogele landed in Ahmedabad only to be denied entry. He was allegedly told he had no right to enter India and was “deported” without explanation. His passport was returned in Geneva. In a letter to Sibi George, Indian ambassador to Switzerland, Vogele demanded to know the reason for the blacklisting.
“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 immigration officials. 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.”
As a diplomat, Vogele had been posted in India as part of the Swiss Development Cooperation, responsible for overseeing Switzerland’s overseas relief activities. While the ministry of external affairs, when contacted, said it was checking details of the case, central intelligence sources said there is nothing adverse in the Intelligence Bureau records on the Swiss Development Cooperation.
But SDC is understood to have given Rs 30 crore as foreign funding to the Gujarat-based Dalit rights NGO Navsarjan Trust. Sources said Navsarjan Trust’s FCRA licence renewal was cancelled on December 15, 2016, as it had attracted adverse notice of IB and MHA for “undesirable activities aimed to affect prejudicially harmony between religious, racial, social, linguistic, regional groups, castes and communities”.
Vogele last visited India in January 2017 on an invitation of the Malabar Union in Kerala and had faced no difficulties. In the letter to Indian ambassador, he gives details of his work during postings in India. Detailing his connection with India, he wrote, “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 IRMA, Anand, with NABARD, with MILMA (Malabar Union) Calicut and with the Kerala Institute for Local Administration, Thrissur).” “This explains why the refusal from being allowed to enter into India on January 22 was such a shock for me.”
Source : timesofindia
