It is a historical fact that trans-border migration of population has been
happening continuously between the territories of India and the areas presently
comprising Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Millions of citizens of
undivided India belonging to various faiths were staying in the said areas of
Pakistan and Bangladesh when India was partitioned in 1947. India needed to deny
citizenship, so
Citizenship Act 1955 was laid down. It was known as the
nationality law .Amendments were made in the forthcoming years 1986, 1992, 2003,
2005, 2015 and now 2019. Article 5 to 11 deals with citizenship in the Indian
Constitution.
CAA 2019
Art 11 Gives The Power To The Union Government / Parliament
Regarding The Decision Of Citizenship After 26th Jan 1950.
It Says Persons From Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan Of Hindu, Sikh, Jain,
Buddhist, Parsi, Christian Minority Who Entered India On Or Before 31st
December Will Not Be Treated As An Illegal Migrant Which Is Defined Under 1) Sec
3 Of Passport Act 1920 & 2) Foreigners Act 1946.
It is a chance to become an Indian citizen by changing the time period to get
citizenship that is in the third schedule clause (D) the time period by
registration was 11+1 years now which is changed to not less than five years.
Nowhere in the act it is been mentioned anything about exclusion of Muslim. This
act is to save the religious minorities who are being discriminated against and
persecuted in those three countries. Different countries have different
minorities. In this current Amendment Act we are dealing with these three
countries. Between 1964 and 2008 the then Governments (UPA) have done this
with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Uganda There are catena
of researches which shows that the minorities being persecuted, this act will
not benefit financially or by any other means it is just way to get Indian
Citizenship.
How Did The Nehru Liaquat Pact Came And Its?
Significance Regarding To The Bill?
To understand this, we need to go back to 1950 post-Independence, when INDIA and
Pakistan got divided the Muslim majority of west Punjab, east Bengal along with
some areas of Sindh,north west frontier, British Balochistan, Kherpur, Sylhet
etc. Muslim was a majority area, Pakistan was not merely for Muslims, nor India
was only for Hindus .So both the countries signed the pact.
Believing that you have read the first 6 lines of the pact it is pretty clear
that it mentions both the countries have a specific majority of people following
a religion, both countries have minorities in their countries as such Pakistan
has Hindus, and India has Muslim as minority. The pact says both the country
promises to treat its minorities equally without discrimination, protect them
and give them protection.
This is famously known as critical hostage theory by
far and a solemn promise. Religious minorities in Pakistan often face
significant discrimination, subject to issues such as violence and misuse of the
blasphemy law. It is claimed that since 1947, religious minorities went from 23%
to 3.0% of the population[1], due to violence and discrimination they have
faced, however the reason of decline has more to do with mass migration of
nearly 5 million Hindus and Sikhs to India in 1947 and separation
of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1971 which contained nearly 22% of
minorities of Pakistan leaving behind approximately 1.6% of minorities in West
Pakistan.
India Kept Her Promise As A Democratic Nation As Given Under Article 29 And
Article 30 Of The Indian Constitution as it has a duty as a
nation towards those minorities it is a one-way route that means No Indian
Citizen will be excluded .
Exclusion?
As an individual no one is being stopped to enter including Muslims through
the 5 ways provided in the citizenship act which are as follows:
- By birth
- By descent
- By registration
- By naturalisation
- By incorporation of territory
- · Here special treatment is given to these communities to save them from
persecution, there is no point of exclusion, no clause in the current
amendment act says such. The irony is in the last 6 years Muslims have been
given citizenship in huge numbers in subject matter of law by naturalization
or registration, so now why do we exclude them, at last India Is A
Secular Country
Article 14 Violated?
The Constitution Of India is one of the most duly crafted works of all
time and is regarded for its coverage of varied aspects and one equality before
law.
Article 14 Is Equality Before Law. In India The Term Equality Is
Reasonable Classification Is Allowed But Based On Intelligible Differentia
Which Means Classify By Using Our Brain.
Here the same is being applied by the government to help the minorities so they
can be equal, due to constant persecution, conversion, discrimination of the
mentioned minorities in those
Islamic States are in need of help and it
is the duty of the government and it is allowed to protect its minorities it
does not violate the
Equality Before Law because we are allowed to do
Reasonable Classification. If this is
wrong then we have various laws for minorities not to forget the Muslims{reservation}, women, juvenile, senior citizens etc.
There is also an
outrage about not adding Shia (In that case, the learned Judge, with reference
to authoritative texts, went into the detailed history of the two sects of the
Sunnis and Shias) and Ahmediyas (According to an article written for the
Huffington Post by Qasim Rashid, a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University's
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, Ahmadis are a
sect of Islam
whose members believe that the:
Messiah and Mahdi has come in the person of
Mizra Ghulam Ahmad [Ahmed] of Qadian [the founder of the sect]" (The Huffington
Post 24 Sept. 2014). in persecuted minorities however these two are sects in
Muslim community. The argument follows that this failure on the part
of Pakistan and Bangladesh places a special responsibility on India towards
these minority groups.
But, because Ahmadiyas were recognized as Muslims until 1974, they weren't
understood to fall into the definition of minorities regardless
of religion when India became a party to the current responsibility when it
signed the Pact in 1950.
(Art14 Provides Reasonable Classification And Here We Are Concerned About
Religious Minorities).
Rohingya Muslims?
In the case of Rohingyas, Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has labelled them illegal
immigrants, accused them of posing a national security threat, and pushed for their deportation in
an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court.
The affidavit also stated
that India does not have to adhere to non-refoulement as India is not a
signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.[2]
The affidavit was in response to a case
Mohammad Salimullah v. Union of
India, filed by two Rohingya refugees against the involuntary deportation of
refugees. The order states that they 'cannot comment upon something happening
in another country.' It then recognises that 'serious objections' were
raised as to whether Article 51(c) can be applied in this matter when India is
not a signatory to the Refugee Convention. This article is a directive principle
that requires the State to endeavour to 'foster respect for international law'.
The bench also notes that while Article 14 and 21 are guaranteed to all
irrespective of citizenship, Article 19(1) (e) is not. According to the bench,
the latter article is the one that contains the right not to be deported, since
it provides for the right to reside or settle in any part of India. This is
available only to citizens.
Further, the order takes note of the Union's national security concerns and
their concern with
touts who provide safe passage to India for illegal
immigrants. On this basis, the bench refused the application for interim relief.
However, it stated that deportation cannot be done unless the 'procedure
prescribed' is followed.
Recently on June 18th 2021, Uttar Pradesh police ATS squad got hold of 4
Rohingyas and has claimed that these 4 men were involved in various crimes and
illegally living in India.
Conclusion:
Throughout the years India has maintained firm on its stand that Terror and
Talks cannot go in hand in hand,there has been no persistent development for
peace between the parties adding it is an evident fact that FATF (Financial
Action Task Force) has downgraded Pakistan to grey list for various reasons
such as money laundering and Terror funding activities.
Lately we have been seeing that countries including Turkey and China are going
hard on India over the Kashmir issue where on One side Turkey and Pakistan have
choose to remain silent on Human Rights violation happening in Xinjiang province
while China and Turkey have chosen to ignore the condition of minorities in
Pakistan.
Coming to Turkey,whose Mr. Volkan Bozkir is serving as UNGA President, he
recently in a speech tried to compare Kashmir Issue with the Palestine Issue
which is violation of code of ethics Sec 3(c) (d) and 5 which talks about
unwarranted preferential treatment to a state, biased or prejudiced approach
and presenting one's personal interest.
Indian Government has utmost sensitivity and is dedicated towards Kashmir issue
as immediately this time India has also hit back hard on Mr. Volkan Bozkir,
MEA spokesperson said this is Unacceptable and a disservice to the office
.
This was an unfinished business, it is an inclusive law not exclusive, nor does
it affect any citizen of INDIA at all.
End-Notes:
- Asia times
Written By: Pranit D Kotian is the writer of the article and a second
year law student from Government Law College Mumbai
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