When the Japanese Empire invaded Thailand in December 1941, forcing the kingdom into an uneasy alliance with Tokyo, Thai citizens living in India suddenly found themselves caught in an uncertain limbo. Overnight, they went from peaceful neutrality to the precarious status of enemy subjects.

This shift stemmed from the Enemy Foreigners Order of 1939, a wartime decree that empowered colonial officials to intern, register and control those deemed enemy foreigners. While citizens of Axis powers like Germany and Italy had been immediately targeted in 1939, Thais in India had so far been spared thanks to Thailand’s initial neutrality. However, once Japan invaded and Thailand declared war on Britain – and by extension, India – in January 1942, these protections evaporated, placing Thai nationals

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