ZCZC
BSS-30
INDIA-BILL-REAX-USCIRF
US Commission seeks sanctions against Amit Shah
By Aminul Islam Mirja
NEW DELHI, Dec 10, 2019 (BSS) – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has sought US sanctions against Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other principal Indian Leadership if the “Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019” is passed by both houses of Indian parliament.
Describing the bill as a “dangerous turn in the wrong direction”, the federal US commission in a statement from Washington, DC on Monday said, “It runs counter to India’s rich history of secular pluralism and the Indian Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law regardless of faith”.
The statement said, “It (USCIRF) is deeply troubled by the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB), originally introduced by Home Minister Amit Shah, in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian Parliament) given the religion criterion in the bill”.
It said the CAB enshrines a pathway to citizenship for immigrants that specifically excludes Muslims, setting a legal criterion for citizenship based on religion.
In conjunction with the ongoing National Register of Citizens (NRC) process in Assam and nationwide NRC that the Home Minister seeks to propose, USCIRF fears that the Indian government is creating a religious test for Indian citizenship that would strip citizenship from millions of Muslims, it added.
However, India today regretted that the statement made by the commission of the US government on religious freedom after the Lok Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
Responding to a query regarding the USCIRF statement, official spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the statement made by USCIRF on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is “neither accurate nor warranted”.
“The position articulated by USCIRF is not surprising given its past record. It is, however, regrettable that the body has chosen to be guided only by its prejudices and biases on a matter on which it clearly has little knowledge and no locus standi,” it said.
The statement, issued in a day before the bill is to be placed in Rajya Sabha, said the draft legislation provides expedited consideration for Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities already in India from certain contiguous countries.
It said the CAB does not affect the existing avenues to all communities interested in seeking citizenship from doing so.
“Neither the CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill) nor the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process seeks to strip citizenship from any Indian citizen of any faith. Suggestions to that effect are motivated and unjustified. Every nation, including the United States, has the right to enumerate and validate its citizenry, and to exercise this prerogative through various policies,” it added.
Meanwhile, Lok Sabha last night passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, amid opposition protest.
According to the proposed legislation, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities, who have come from the three neighbouring states till December 31, 2014 will be given Indian citizenship.
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