The photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Migrants are human, aren’t they? If they were migrating to earth from another planet, we may have been justified in closing our borders. But they are not. Pope Francis in his homily nailed it. “The weapons that fuel wars are often produced and sold in other regions, which are then unwilling to take in the refugees generated by these conflicts” (“Pope lambasts world’s indifference to migrants,” Sept.30, Gulf Today).

The hordes of refugees that are migrating today are created by governments which are supported by means, I mean weapons, supplied by the same countries which are building walls and barricading borders in a bid to stop them from coming in.

Populist leaders are brainwashing their people into believing that migrants are stealing their jobs and livelihood. Because multiple research studies have proved that migrants add value to the adopted country more than being a burden. Migrants don’t sponge on the country’s resources as it is made out to be by politicians. The ‘outsider’ tag is a convenient tool used by the political machinery to pit their ‘insider’ voters against the ones who have no say and no vote.

It’s time the common man dissects the narrative pushed by politicians and should not succumb to their foul tactics. It’s time we force our leaders to heed to a just call like the one vocalized by the Pope. “We cannot be indifferent to the tragedy of old and new forms of poverty, to the bleak isolation, contempt and discrimination experienced by those who do not belong to ‘our group’”. It’s time to shun the division.

Ved Shukla
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