Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board « Simerg

Introduced by MALIK MERCHANT

[NOTE: The event is over. We invite you to watch a recording of the event by clicking on https://youtu.be/xPnry0TvCY8. For a background article, see below — Ed.]

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November 6, 2022: Uganda Expulsion at Fifty

The Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board for the United Kingdom (ITREB, UK) is hosting a virtual panel discussion today, Sunday, November 6, 2022, involving five leading members of the Ismaili Muslim Jamat (community) who have been involved in one way or another in the resettlement process since the expulsion of Asians from Uganda 50 years ago. The link for the panel discussion is Watch Zoom: Uganda Expulsion at 50. (Note: Passcode/password not required, as the Zoom link provided is more than sufficient to enter the event.)

The discussion will commence at 7:30 PM GMT (see other local times below). Readers of this website are urged to watch this unique and important session and inform their family members, friends and other contacts to join the session. Please mark it on your calendar.

The session is part of ITREB UK’s Heritage Series and is entitled “The Ugandan Asian Expulsion at 50 — Reflections on the Emergence of a new Ismaili Diaspora in North America and Europe.” The program is an initiative of BUA50 (British Ugandan Asians at 50) which is composed of a Steering Committe with members from the UK and other countries around the world. BUA50 commemorative events have also taken place in South Africa and Australia.

The panelists for this event will include Amin Mawji OBE (Order of the British Empire), who is currently the Diplomatic Representative of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Uganda. He will provide the opening remarks. Others in the panel are lawyer and economist as well as author of a recent book, Memories of a Ugandan Refugee: Encounters of Hope from Kampala to Vancouver, Jalal Jaffer, one of the early expellees who has held senior leadership positions in Ismaili institutions, and Arafat Jamal, Diplomat and Senior Representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in South Sudan.

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In August 1972, President Idi Amin decreed that all resident Asians had to leave Uganda within 90 days. Departing Asian were allowed to take only £ 50.00 per family and a maximum of 220 kgs (485 lbs) of personal effects. The UK, Canada, other countries and the United Nations scrambled to assist thousands who were rendered stateless. Photograph: Journey into Hope, The Ismaili Canada, 1994. — In August 1972, President Idi Amin decreed that all resident Asians had to leave Uganda within 90 days. Thousands were rendered stateless by this decree and scrambled to the UK, Canada and other countries with the assistance of the United Nations. Photograph: Journey into Hope, A Chronicle of the Ugandan Asian Migration, Published by The Ismaili, Canada, 1994.

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Asians queue outside the British High Commission in Kampala to verify their citizenship status following Idi Amin's decree of August 1972 giving them notice to leave the country within 90 days. Simerg. — In August 1972, President Idi Amin decreed that all resident Asians had to leave Uganda within 90 days. Departing Asian were allowed to take only £ 50.00 per family and a maximum of 220 kgs (485 lbs.) of personal effects. The UK, Canada, other countries and the United Nations scrambled to assist thousands who were rendered stateless. In this photo, Asians queue outside the British High Commission in Kampala to verify their citizenship status, while a newspaper vendor walks around selling copies of the latest issue of the English newspaper Uganda Argus. Photograph: © The Mohamed Amin Foundation.

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Departing Asians on the tarmac of Entebbe airport as the first flights began to leave Kampala following Idi Amin's decree in August 1972 which gave them 90 days to leave the country. Departing Asian were allowed to take only £ 50.00 per family and a maximum of 220 kgs (485 lbs) of personal effects. — Departing Asians on the tarmac of Entebbe airport as the first flights began to leave Kampala following Idi Amin’s decree in August 1972 which gave them 90 days to leave the country. Stateless Asian were allowed to take only £ 50.00 per family and a maximum of 220 kgs (485 lbs.) of personal effects. Photograph: © The Mohamed Amin Foundation.

The panelist will be in conversation with Dr. Mohamed Keshavjee, a lawyer, mediator and author of several highly acclaimed books, among them “Into That Heaven of Freedom” and “Islam, Sharia and Alternative Dispute Resolution: Mechanisms for Legal Redress in the Muslim Community.” Dr. Keshavjee has a background in the International Protection of Human Rights. He recently participated in a BUA50 event held in South Africa.

The closing remarks will be offered by Mahmood Ahmed of the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF, UK), who was the founding Diplomatic Representative of the AKDN, Uganda.

The Ugandan expulsion of 1972 lay at the fault-line of disagreement between the Uganda, British and Indian governments who refused to take responsibility for the fate of the Asian minorities of East Africa at the end of the decolonisation process. In the words of Yash Tandon, a Ugandan policymaker, political activist, professor, author and public intellectual, the Asian minorities became “stepchildren of the colonial empire.”

An event not to be missed, this unique session is open to everyone and requires no prior registration.

Again, the link to the session is Watch Zoom: Uganda Expulsion at 50 ((Note: Passcode/password not required, as the link provided is more than sufficient to enter the event.) The session is on Sunday, November 6, 2022, and the program can be viewed around the world at the following local times:

. 7:30 PM GMT (UK, Portugal)

. 8:30 PM (France, Spain, Germany and many other European countries)

. 2:30 PM (New York, Toronto etc.)

. 11:30 AM (Vancouver, Los Angeles etc.)

. 12:30 PM (Edmonton, Denver etc.)

. 1:30 PM (Chicago, Houston etc.)

. 10:30 PM (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa)

Readers in other worldwide cities in the Middle East, Central and South Asia, the Far East well as Australia and New Zealand, please calibrate your calendar time according to the GMT time of 7:30 PM.

NOTE: When you open the Zoom link and if the ITREB UK event hasn’t begun, the start time of the event that is displayed on your screen is your local time, wherever you may be.

Do not miss this important and unique discussion.

Date posted: November 3, 2022.
Last updated: December 17, 2022 (added link to recording of event, see top of page.)

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Before departing this website please take a moment to review Simerg’s Table of Contents for links to hundreds of thought-provoking pieces on a vast array of subjects including faith and culture, history and philosophy, and arts and letters to name a few. Also visit Simerg’s sister websites Barakah, dedicated to His Highness the Aga Khan, and Simergphotos. The editor may be reached via email at mmerchant@simerg.com.