As is the case in Bangladesh and Pakistan, refugees’ presence in India is governed primarily by the Foreigners Act of 1946, which does not provide for differentiated treatment of foreigners arriving to India with protection needs. Instead, refugee policy in India has evolved from a mix of ad hoc federal and state-level policies, which have subsequently been interpreted in diverse manners by various Indian courts. The absence of a legislative framework for the recognition and governance of refugee populations has resulted in a patchwork and fragile set of practices, granting varying levels of protection on a group-by-group basis (essentially amounting to prima facie recognition for certain groups). Reception conditions for refugees also range widely, from camp settings with severely restricted mobility to the granting of pathways to citizenship in the host country. In 2019, the Indian government launched its National Register of Citizens (NRC) initiative, a program that relies on the expansive language of the Foreigners Act read in conjunction with the Citizenship Act of 1955. The NRC has rendered some two million individuals effectively stateless along the border between Bangladesh and the Indian state of Assam.38 As a result of the NRC initiative, millions of Assamese are now facing legal precarity which closely mirrors that faced by other stateless and refugee populations. This development underscores the importance of considering—and advancing protections for—vulnerable populations beyond those that fit within the narrow definition of “refugee.” The 2019 amendment of the Citizenship Act is another troubling development in India’s treatment of populations with protection needs. The amendment extended pathways to Indian citizenship for refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan belonging to minority religious communities, but it excluded Muslim refugees of the same national origins from the possibility of naturalizing or even regularizing their legal status. This disparate treatment of Muslim minorities is emblematic of the politicized rhetoric and exclusionary approach that is often applied in India with regards to legal protection, administrative orders, or directives. Pakistan Pakistan has been among the top five host countries of refugees for the last several decades. The country currently plays host to 1.4 million Afghan refugees39 and substantial numbers of Rohingya refugees, although accurate figures for that population are very difficult to find. Pakistan also shares colonial era law with Bangladesh and India, including the Foreigners Act. However, this legislation has been interpreted by both executive and judicial branches of the government as having a specific application when it comes to protection seekers, leading to the provision of policies and practices for this subset of foreign nationals that collectively amount to the recognition of “refugees” as a distinct class afforded particular rights and entitlements. While such differential treatment is supported by administrative decisions and judicial precedent, Pakistan has not implemented such changes through legislation, leaving the recognition and reception conditions of non-Afghan refugees unclear. Southeast Asia Indonesia Indonesia has a long history of offering protection to refugees, and it does not confine them within camp settings—most refugees live in urban settings or accommodations provided by 12 UND OING PRECARIT Y: ELE VATING P OSITIVE PR ACTICES FOR REFU GEE PROTECTION IN SO U TH AND SO U THE AST ASIA