By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI – In a clear indication of adverse global ramifications of the BJP government’s decision to implement the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has raised an alarm over the Citizenship Amendment Rules being notified in India. The USCIRF pointed out that the “problematic CAA” had made religion a basis for granting citizenship.
USCIRF Commissioner Stephen Schneck testified at a Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’s hearing on this matter last week. He pointed out that the problematic CAA had established a religious requirement for asylum seekers in India fleeing neighbouring countries. While it provides a fast-track to citizenship for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians, the legislation explicitly excludes Muslims.
“If the law were truly aimed at protecting persecuted religious minorities, it would include Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, Ahmadiyya Muslims from Pakistan, or Hazara Shias from Afghanistan, among others. No one should be denied citizenship based on religion or belief,” Schneck said.
The USCIRF issued a statement on the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’s hearing in Washington, D.C., on March 25 and urged the members of the U.S. Congress to continue to publicly call out religious freedom issues in India, and to include religious freedom in discussions with government counterparts and importantly, during congressional delegation.
The newly announced rules confirm that those seeking Indian citizenship must prove that they arrived in the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Afghanistan before December 31, 2014, excluding those fleeing more recent acts of persecution. The announcement comes as the Indian government moves to deport refugees from Myanmar in the aftermath of the 2021 military coup.
The USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan Federal Government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyse and report on religious freedom abroad. The USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the U.S. President, the Secretary of State and the Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion or belief.
Schneck said the CAA also does not include citizenship for those fleeing non-Muslim majority nations, such as Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka and Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims from China. The CAA was initially passed in 2019, but the Indian government delayed its implementation following large-scale, months-long protests across the country, including the prolonged sit-in at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi.
The protests provoked a harsh and deadly crackdown by Indian police forces, including mass arrest of human rights activists from all faiths, the USCIRF noted. “As the State Department recently noted, respect for religious freedom and equal treatment under the law for all communities are fundamental democratic principles,” USCIRF Commissioner David Curry said.
“More than four years after the CAA’s introduction, student activists like Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Meeran Haider, and many others still languish in jail under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for peacefully protesting,” the USCIRF stated, while calling upon the U.S. government to work with Indian authorities to release the human rights activists arbitrarily detained for a long time in violation of the rights of the religious minorities.
In its 2023 Annual Report, the USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State designate India as a Country of Particular Concern for its systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. In September 2023, USCIRF held a hearing on religious freedom in India and how the U.S. government can work with the Indian government to address violations. USCIRF had earlier published a factsheet on the CAA and its implications.
The rules for implementation of the CAA were notified in early March, paving the way for granting citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Following the questions being raised over the exclusion of Muslims from the Act, the BJP government at the Centre has strongly defended its move.
The External Affairs Ministry’s spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, said recently that the CAA was an “internal matter of India” and the law was about giving citizenship, not about taking away citizenship. It addresses the issue of statelessness, provides human dignity and supports human rights, Jaiswal said.
In the past, India has dismissed the USCIRF’s capacity to comment on human rights record in the country. India has previously said that the USCIRF continues to make such comments, which amounted to “misrepresentation of facts”, and asked the U.S. body to develop a better understanding of India, its plurality and its democratic ethos.
