1) What is CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT BILL, 2019 ?
Any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December, 2014 shall not be treated as illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act.
2) What was the agreement between India and Pakistan after Independence/ Partition regarding migration of people between India and Pakistan ?
The first PM of Indi PanditNehru and Pakistan PM Liaquat Ali reached an agreement in April 1950. Under the Nehru-Liaquat pact
- refugees were allowed to return unmolested to dispose of their property
- abducted women and looted property were to be returned
- forced conversions were unrecognized
- minority rights were confirmed
Contrary to the Nehru –Liaqat Ali Pact, during partition, Pakistan did not allow Dalits to
leave for India. Pak PM Liaqat Ali told Indian High Commissioner “who would clean streets
andlatrines of Karachi if they are allowed to leave?”
With rise of Islamic extremism and declaration of Pakistan and Bangladesh as Islamic
Republic, persecution of religious minorities went up significantly. Forced conversions,
abductions of minor girls, burning down religious places, mob lynching on religious blasphemy made the lives of non-Muslims miserable in these countries.
Most Hindu refugees coming from Pakistan/ Bangla Desh now are Dalits.
3) Why the Citizenship Act of 1955 is being amended now ?
The constitutions of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh provide for a specific
state religion. As a result, many persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and
Christian communities have faced persecution on grounds of religion in those countries.
Some of them also have fears about such persecution in their day-to-day life where right to
practice, profess and propagate their religion has been obstructed and restricted. Many
such persons have fled to India to seek shelter and continued to stay in India even if their
travel documents have expired or they have incomplete or no documents.
4) Why special provisions for refugees from these 3 countries when there is an existing law to give Indian citizenship to foreigners ?
The illegal migrants who have entered into India up to the cut of date of 31.12.2014 need a special regime to govern their citizenship matters. For this purpose the Central Government or an authority specified by it, shall grant the certificate of registration or certificate of naturalisation subject to such conditions, restrictions and manner as may be prescribed. Since many of them have entered into India long back, they may be given the citizenship of India from the date of their entry in India if they fulfil conditions for Indiancitizenship specified in section 5 or the qualifications for the naturalisation under the provisions.
5) What is length of stay of specified refugees from above countries to become citizens of India ?
Under the proposed amendment, applicants belonging to the said communities from the aforesaid countries eligible for citizenship by naturalisation if they can establish their residency in India for five years
instead of the existing eleven years.
6) Are the proposed amendments anti-Muslim ?
No. The proposed amendments covers religiously persecuted minorities coming to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The amendments proposed have nothing to do with any existing Indian citizen either Muslim or any other religion. This bill does not cover Muslims of above 3 countries as they are already declared as Islamic Republics and state religion is Islam. There is no way a Muslim country will persecute its own majority religion population.
7) Does the proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 violate provisions of Constitution of India ?
According to Constitutional expert and senior lawer Sri Harish Salve :
CAB is not anti-Muslim and doesn’t violate Art 14, 15 or even 21 of the Constitution,’ Harish Salve explained further that the CAB aims to provide the persecuted minorities in these 3 countries a special status in the naturalisation process and it does not mean in any way that other communities or people will not be naturalised at all, for other communities the rules of general asylum process will be followed. So there is no violation of Article 14 here.
The CAB has ‘religious persecution’ as the basis and is aiding those who are being religiously persecuted (the minorities in the specified Islamic countries) then the community which belongs to the majority religion in these countries cannot claim ‘religious persecution’. And since the CAB is not about political or economic asylum seekers, Muslims do not feature there.
Hindu refugees who fled from Pakistan and arrived in India have to wait for 11 years to apply for Indian citizenship under old law. Under the proposed amendment they can apply after 5 years of entry into India and citizenship of India is assured to them.
– sahadev k
