Citizenship (Amendment) Bill goes against spirit of our Constitution – Secretary General JIH

New Delhi (Press Note): The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 is against the spirit of our Constitution said the Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Muhammad Salim Engineer while addressing a press conference today.

He said that: ‘’This bill is highly discriminatory as it proposes to grant citizenship to people from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan according to their religion. Thus Hindus from Bangladesh would be accepted but not Muslims’’.

Regarding the NRC issue the JIH Secretary General said that: ‘’we are deeply concerned with the publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. Thus far the NRC has held 1.9 crore people of the 3.3 crore applications to be valid and bonafide citizens of India. The fate of 1.4 crore people still hangs in balance. The final list is expected to come out by end of July 2018. According to the Assam Accord signed in 1985, anyone who entered the state after 24 March 1971 is considered an illegal resident. However, if a person is accused of being a foreigner, then the onus of proof (to prove citizenship) lies on the accused. But genuine citizens who are impoverished and could not maintain proper records are impacted and now face the brunt of being branded as foreigners. Most are declared foreigners due to minor inaccuracies in their documents. The number of those declared as foreigners has increased dramatically after the BJP government came to power in Assam. Jamaat expects that the government agencies entrusted with the task of preparing the list of legal citizens shall discharge their duty diligently and without bias. Those in power in the state and the Center should also ensure that communal elements are reined in and law and order is maintained in Assam. Jamaat-e-Islami Hind was part of a fact finding team consisting of eminent journalists and human rights activists that recently visited Assam to find out how the NRC process was being implemented. Its recommendations would be released in a separate press conference’’.

Earlier the President of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Maulana Syed Jalaluddin when asked about the reported event of BJP Minister Jayant Sinha felicitating ‘gau-rakshaks’ convicted for Ramgarh lynching, said that: ‘’ such events should be condemned as it gives encouragement to those who take the law in their hands. Jamaat demands that the Central government and the state governments must put an end to such incidents of lawlessness and act seriously in maintaining law and order as well as communal harmony in the country which is the basic duty of any government.’’