Migrants, Refugees and the Stateless in India and initially settled in two transit camps—one in Assam and another in West Bengal. Later, the alien climatic conditions in these places led the government to seek alternative settlements, mainly in Bylakuppe in Karnataka state, and in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. Failure in Nation-building Resulting in Persecution of Minorities The bulk of refugees in India, however, are victims of what scholars call failures of nation-building. In South Asia, as in much of the decolonised world, state formation has often preceded nation formation. National borders have been drawn and governments have been put in place, but the inability to peacefully accommodate religious, ethnic and linguistic differences within these borders has resulted in a number of conflicts that have led to the persecution of minorities. Where the situation has become unbearable, and where minorities think they have a chance of a better life elsewhere, they have migrated. Hindus from Pakistan, Hindus and Sikhs from Afghanistan, and Hindus and Buddhists from Bangladesh have largely been the victims of this process. Hindu Tamils from Sri Lanka, fleeing state repression, and the Rohingya from Myanmar, escaping a brutal ethnic cleansing, are other examples of refugees in India who are victims of failure of nation-formation in their countries that has resulted in the persecution of minorities. Although Pakistan was originally envisioned as a secular state by its founding father, subsequent developments have seen the share of its religious minorities in the total population dwindle from around 23 per cent to approximately 3 per cent today.4 Large-scale population transfers during the violent Partition, the transition to formally declaring itself an Islamic Republic, a genocide in erstwhile East Pakistan that resulted in the breakup of the country and the birth of Bangladesh, and numerous instances of religious violence throughout its history, have all resulted in many of Pakistan’s minorities seeking refuge elsewhere. Similarly, 4 Farahnaz Ispahani, ‘Cleansing Pakistan of Minorities,’ Hudson Institute, July 31, 2013, https://www.hudson.org/research/9781-cleansing-pakistan-ofminorities. 39