18/12/2019
Clarity on the current situation..
"The Citizenship Amendment Act v2019 explained!!!
1. Does the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 affect existing Indian citizens (Hindus, Muslims, anyone)?
Ans. No. It has nothing to do with Indian citizens. It has to do with refugees who have come to India escaping religious persecution in Pak, Afghanistan & Bangladesh only.
2. To whom does it apply?
Ans. Only to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists & Christians from the above three countries - Islamic Republics - who are facing religious persecution AND who are already in India before 1st Dec 2014.
3. Which 3 countries?
Ans. Pakistan, Bangladesh & Afghanistan.
4. In what way does it benefit Hindus, Sikhs, Jains & Christians from these 3 countries?
Ans. Their residency requirement for permanent citizenship in India has now been reduced from 11 to 5 years. Thus they can claim citizenship as a right under this law. Unfortunately their major problem was that once these refugees reached India, they would continue to be looked at by the entire system including common citizens as 'Pakis' or 'Bangladeshis' etc!! They had to endure many challenges and officially no government support could be given to them.
5. Does this mean that Muslims from these 3 countries can never get Indian citizenship?
Ans. No. But they will go through the usual process of acquiring citizenship through the existing naturalization rules….11 years of residence etc.
6. Will illegal Muslim immigrants from these 3 countries be automatically deported under this bill?
Ans. No. For them the existing usual process applies. Their application for naturalization may or may not be granted depending on their eligibility.
7. Can Hindus facing persecution in any other country apply under this law?
Ans. No. It is limited to the above three countries.
8. Does this bill apply to other forms of persecution – Political, racial, sexual etc?
Ans. No. The bill is very specific in its intend – to provide relief to Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Christians & Buddhists facing 'religious persecution' in these three countries.
9. Why only these 3 countries ? And why only religious persecution ?
Ans. These 3 countries - Islamic Republics - have a track record of pervasive, systematic & institutionalized persecution of religious minorities. At the time of Independence, approx 23% of population of Pak were minorities. Today it is less than 3%! The figures are self explanatory.
10. What about Sri Lankan Tamils?
Ans. (1) The war has been over for a decade now.
(2) In Sri Lanka there never was any persecution on religious lines. It was on racial lines. And over the decades of civil war the Sri Lankans have put an end to institutionalized discrimination of tamils.
11. Doesn’t India have an obligation under the UN to take care of refugees?
Ans. Yes it does. And it is not shying away from it. But it has no obligation to offer citizenship. Each country has its own rules for naturalization. India is not going to turn away other refugees under this law. It will play host to them under UN rules, in the implicit expectation that some day they will return to their homelands when the conditions improve. But in the case of Hindus from these 3 countries, this law acknowledges the reality that the environment of persecution in these 3 countries is never going to improve.
12. Why shouldn’t Baluchis, Ahmediyas in Pakistan not be considered for this kindness?
Ans. They are all Muslims in self declared Islamic Republics. However, if these ppl come in as refugees, their case will be considered under the existing laws of migration and not under the special category. It may be known that a total of 546 Muslims of Pak origin were granted Indian citizenship since 2017!!!
13. Does any Indian Muslim lose his citizenship or become second class citizens?
Ans : No... Not at all. They continue to be valued citizens of India!!! In India we do not have a concept of different classes of citizens!
14. Then why so much of violence and drama making the country suffer irrespective of consequences for common citizens?
Ans: Any nation pays the price for having foolish and opportunistic leaders who only seek to divide own citizens for narrow political brownie points!!! We're suffering from the same.
PS. Btw.. this bill was in the Parliamentary standing committee since 2015. Was cleared there after due alterations in Jan 2019...
Constitutional Clarity mentioned below :
Noted Lawyer Harish Salve explained further that the CAA 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.
Salve further added that as far as Article 15 is concerned, it is applicable only for Indian citizens and not people from other countries. One becomes an Indian citizen after they are naturalised, not before.
Article 21 of the Indian Constitution is concerned with the right to life. Salve stated that it provides a right to life for those who live in India, not those who want to enter India.
Answering Shivshankar’s question on whether specifying Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians is discriminatory against Muslims, Salve explained that on the laws of equality does not mean having the same law for lions and lambs.
He added that since the CAA 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 CAA is not about political or economic asylum seekers, Muslims do not feature there.
He also asserted that the CAA does not undermine or interfere with the existing rules of asylum and Muslims can continue to seek asylum or apply for citizenship under the existing rules....
