India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 17— Two tribal rights activists from Meghalaya have filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), saying the new citizenship law violates the rights of trans-border tribal communities living in Meghalaya as well as in Bangladesh, like Khasi and Garo.
In a press statement, petitioners Mantre Passah and Kyrsoibor Pyrtuh said, “We are challenging the said Act because it attacks the fundamental rights of the individuals belonging to the tribal communities, with respect to their persecution as a trans-border tribal community as well as their status in neighbouring countries, including the Khasi-Pnar, Garo and other smaller tribal communities here in the state of Meghalaya bordering the country of Bangladesh.”
More than 60 petitions have already been filed against CAA in the top court which is likely to hear them on January 22.
Several groups from Assam, Manipur and Tripura have also filed petitions against CAA in the Supreme Court.
The CAA, passed by the Parliament on December 11, seeks to grant Indian citizenship to only non-Muslim migrants – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Jains and Parsis – from three neighbouring countries Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
“The CAA has failed to take into account the realities of trans-border communities and distorted the tribal way of life. If a Khasi person, who is neither a Hindu or Christian, is persecuted in Bangladesh and comes into India, then his application will not be entertained through the provisions of the CAA. Moreover, there is a double-discrimination because the Sixth Schedule tribal areas of Meghalaya are anyway exempt from CAA,” Kyrsoibor Pyrtuh was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
In order to address of the northeast, the CAA has exempted a large part of the state of Meghalaya as it falls under the ambit of the Sixth Schedule.
Since the law was passed, there have been massive nationwide protests against it and government’s move for National Population Register and National Register of Citizens.
