NA condemns Indian Citizenship Amendment Act 2019

The National Assembly on Monday passed a unanimous resolution condemning the Indian Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, which is a discriminatory law against minorities especially Muslim, and human rights abuses in Occupied Kashmir.

The resolution was moved by Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood in the House. The House adopted the resolution unanimously. The resolution condemned India for passing a controversial citizenship act that grants nationality to persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled Muslim-majority Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan prior to 2015.

The resolution further described, "The new Indian law is based on falsehood and distortion of facts relating to treatment of minorities in neighboring countries. The controversial amendment is against international norms of equality and non-discrimination and international human rights law as it seeks to set up faith-based criteria for citizenship."

It further states that this amendment is also against bilateral agreements and understandings between Indian and Pakistan particularly those on security and rights of minorities in the respective countries. It stresses that the status of minorities in India remains deplorable and points to instances of persecution of minorities including mob lynching, particularly targeting Muslims and low caste Dalits by cow-vigilantes from extremist Hindu organizations like Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, schemes likes Ghar Wapsi and 'Love Jihad' and violence against Christians and other minorities.

According to resolution, "The new act ostensibly tries to give the impression that it aims to provide protection to minorities from neighboring countries while ignoring the fact that the rights of minorities in India continue to be violated."

It reiterates that Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir is only Muslim majority area in India where 8 million innocent Kashmiris are collectively incarcerated and penalized by 900,000 Indian occupation forces and face the danger of forced demographic change.

It reaffirms its solidarity and commitment to the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir in their just struggle for their rights to self-determination and reiterates its continuing political and moral struggle for this just struggle in line with UN Security Council Resolutions.

It further reiterates the recent anti-Muslim actions of BJP/RSS led government like revocation of Article 370 from Indian Constitution and illegal annexation of the IOJ&K, and collective incarceration and violation of the rights of more than 8 million innocent Kashmiris at the hand of Indian occupation forces for the last four months, shifting the burden of proof of citizenship on minorities through the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam and rewarding those who vandalized the Babri Mosque in 1992 are all signs of movements towards ethnic cleansing.

It asserts that extremist and fascist measures of BJP government in pursuit of Hindutva ideology are fast leading India into a Hindu Rashtra, where the minorities, particularly Muslims are facing the brunt of persecution.

It calls upon the international community including the United Nations, Human Rights Council, and other relevant human rights organizations to urge India to revoke this discriminatory act and protect and safeguard the rights of its minorities including Muslims.

It calls upon India, with specific regards, to the amendments through the Citizenship (Amendment Act) to: revoke the discriminatory clauses in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019; immediately halt the brutal use of force against the religious minorities, in particular Indian Muslim students; release of peaceful protests detained under crackdown against minorities; reverse all discriminatory measures and steps in order to allow minorities to live with dignity and safety, and; lift curfew and information block out from Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and respect UN Security Council Resolutions.

Earlier, Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that India has isolated itself in the world after the passage of controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), 2019.

He strongly condemned the Indian citizenship Act and said that the bill violated all norms of international rights law and bilateral agreement with Pakistan.

Qureshi said that atrocities were being committed in the occupied valley of Kashmir as eight million people were under curfew since August 5. He said that United Nations' Human Rights Body has expressed concern over India's new citizenship law. He said that this law was part of the RSS 'Hindu Rashtra' design of expansionism propagated by the fascist Modi government.

He said that Bangladesh foreign minister and interior minister had cancelled their pre-determined visits to India amid growing concerns over the passage of Citizenship Amendment Bill.

Qureshi expressed concern over the brutal and indiscriminate use of force by the state on Indian Muslim students of Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Bill. Illegal annexation of Kashmir, Babari Masjid and Citizenship Amendment Act are all targeted towards subjugation of minorities, he added.

The minister said that five states in India and government in Capital (Delhi) had rejected this legislation and told categorically not to implement it. He said that this law is against the Constitution of India and secular India is dying.

PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq said it is time to tell the entire world about the mindset which is "no longer confined to Kashmir but is plaguing the whole of India." He stressed the need for a diplomatic offensive and said that Prime Minister Imran Khan should highlight the issue all over the world.

Khurram Dastagir, another PML-N MNA, said that India annexed occupied Kashmir 134 days ago and the Pakistani government did nothing practically for the people of the region. He said the government seemed to be paralyzed at the diplomatic level.

Dr Darshan of the PML-N said the entire Hindu community of Pakistan condemned Modi's recent actions.

PPP leader Hina Rabbani Khar also called for convening a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss these issues.

Khwaja Asif, Maulana Abdul Wasey, Raja Pervz Asharif and members also spoke on this issue.