LONDON, ENGLAND, JULY 5, 2002: Thousands of officially British, ethnically Indian and technically stateless people are finally to achieve closure on a painful part of their past as the British government announces it will set right a “historical wrong” from 30 years ago. In the 1960s and 70s, thousands of Indians fleeing persecution in East Africa were prevented from seeking refuge in the UK, while white East Africans were allowed into Britain to live. Some Indians managed somehow to gain entry into the UK and others managed to go to India. All those Indians were “treated unfairly” by Britain, a Home Office ministerial statement admitted late on Thursday. As reparation, these Indians will now be granted normal British citizenship rights. So far, they were officially classed as British Overseas Citizens but had no automatic right to live and work in Britain. The British government’s admission of guilt for a skewed and racially-discriminatory immigration policy biased towards white people, comes as Britain this month marks the 30th anniversary of the arrival of 28,000 Indians turned out of Uganda by Idi Amin. Many of the Ugandan Indians now rank among the top 500 wealthiest people of the country.
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