Council of Hongkong Indian Associations
Cont'd/....2
It has thererfore come as a considerable shock to us that the Government (in a written answer from the Home Secretary in Parliament on 23rd April) have decided not to grant British citizenship to the ethnic minorities. If our future nationality had been decided in the normal and proper way by legislation, the almost unanimous support given to our case would have ensured that it was suitably amended. The Government's promise implied that it would itself amend the proposals in the light of the Parliamentary debates. It has now broken that promise.
In a letter to our Council dated 30th April, the Home Secretary has stated his reasons for not granting the minorities British Citizenship. Instead of responding to the points made by us in our letter of 17th February, the Home Secretary has merely repeated, almost word for word, Ministers' statements made before any of the debates happened and before the Order was drawn up. As you will see from the enclosed note, we are able to counter each of these arguments successfully and conclusively. We hope you will be able to give this your close attention as these are the points which HMG's spokesmen are sure to rely upon during the forthcoming debates.
We have lobbied and argued in good faith for nearly 18 months. We have won all the arguments, and demolished every Government objection. We are therefore appalled by the callous disregard of Her Majesty's Government for the views of the people of Hong Kong, who are 7,000 miles away and have no vote.
We feel particularly let down by HMG's broken promises and refusal to listen to our reasoned arguments. As this matter is of such importance to our small group of people, we urge you, as a responsible and honourable Peer of the Realm, to impress upon HMG the necessity of amending the Order in favour of our requests. Indeed, we urge you to attend the debate on the 16th of May, so as to support Lord Cledwyn's motion on the grounds that it reinforces the unanimous wishes of the Lords in the previous debate.
Yours sincerely,
h.fish
K. Sital
Vice-President.