Balochistan Assembly slams Indian citizenship law

Lawmakers urge govt to mount diplomatic efforts against Delhi’s move

QUETTA: The opposition and treasury members of the Balochistan Assembly have strongly criticised the New Delhi’s move to adopt controversial citizenship amendment bill, which the Indian parliament passed to deprive the Muslims of Assam from acquiring citizenship.

The new law applies to Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities who are in India illegally but can demonstrate religious persecution in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It does not apply to Muslims.

Opposition Leader Malik Sikandar Khan Advocate on a point of order took up the issue in the house when the assembly session started with Deputy Speaker Sardar Babar Khan Musakhail in the chair.

Khan slammed the Modi government for passing the contentious citizenship bill, which the critics have termed unconstitutional and discriminatory.

“Imposing controversial citizenship amendment bill is a well-planned conspiracy against the Muslims of India and is against the charter of United Nations,” Khan said, adding that Modi was implementing the agenda of RSS to eliminate Muslims to make India a complete Hindu state.

He urged Pakistani government to deal the issue through diplomatic efforts and expose Indian rulers before entire world.

Khan also took a jibe at New Delhi for committing acts of brutality in Occupied Kashmir where curfew is imposed for the last 137 days and Kashmiris are deprived of the facilities of communication, health and education.

He said that the Indian forces were arresting the Kashmiri youth and sending them to the far-flung areas of India.

“Indian Army is directly involved in genocide of innocent Muslims. Violent use of power by the Indian armed forces at University of New Delhi should be condemned,” he declared.

The opposition leader urged the world community to take notice of the recent moves of the Indian government led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Time has come to raise voice against anti-Muslim actions taken by the BJP government in India,” he said.

Opposition lawmaker Syed Fazal Agha and other members also declared the law a conspiracy hatched against minorities.

The Indian Parliament had passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill fundamentally changing the country’s Citizenship Act of 1955, which set off protests in the northeastern states of the country.

The BJP government had introduced the bill during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first term but the parliament failed to pass the bill at that time.

The BJP reintroduced the bill on Monday and it cleared both the upper and lower houses. President Ram Nath Kovind signed the bill into law.

Meanwhile, during the Question and Answer session, provincial Minister for Social Welfare Abdul Rehman Khetran condemned the death sentence handed to ex-army chief and former president Pervez Musharraf.

“The court’s decision against a person who served the nation for more than 40 years is not legitimate,” he said.

“The decision will not bring in positive results and may demoralise the country,” he added.

However, Balochistan National Party-Mengal’s (BNP-M) Sanaullah Baloch and Pakhtunkwa Milli Awami Party’s (PkMAP) Nasarullah Zerey said it was a “big decision in the history of Pakistan”.

They said should the sentence be carried out then no one will in future even think of violating the Constitution.

The bills on the Gwadar Development Authority, Balochistan Development Authority, and suggestions regarding public libraries, sports and culture were presented in the house.

Members of the house also offered fateha for the 13 people who were killed in a road accident in Khanozai, Muslim Bagh, Killa Saifullah last week. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2019.