WASHINGTON: The US government and the United Nations expressed concerns on Tuesday about a contentious religion-based citizenship law in India, with the UN calling the legislation “fundamentally discriminatory in nature”.

Rights advocates have criticised the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act, which the Indian government moved to implement on Monday. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said it discriminates against Muslims.

Just weeks before Indian elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party government has been pushing to implement the law, which makes it easier to get Indian citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Rights groups say the law leaves out Shias from those countries while also excluding neighbouring countries where Muslims are a minority, like the Rohingya in Myanmar.

“As we said in 2019, we are concerned that India’s Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA) is fundamentally discriminatory in nature and in breach of India’s international human rights obligations,” a spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said.

He added the office was studying whether the law’s implementation rules comply with international human rights law.

The US has also signalled reservations.

“We are concerned about the notification of the Citizenship Amendment Act on March 11. We are closely monitoring how this act will be implemented,” a State Department spokesperson said separately.

“Respect for religious freedom and equal treatment under the law for all communities are fundamental democratic principles,” the State Department spokesperson added in an email.

Activists and rights advocates say the law, combined with a proposed national register of citizens, could discriminate against India’s 200 million Muslims.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2024

Opinion

Editorial

Depopulating Gaza
Updated 07 Feb, 2025

Depopulating Gaza

The least feasible "solution" is the Trumpian plan for Gaza’s ethnic cleansing and occupation, which is a non-starter.
‘Pause’ in US aid
07 Feb, 2025

‘Pause’ in US aid

THE impact of the Trump administration’s decision to ‘pause’ all US foreign aid programmes, especially those...
Mobilising opposition
07 Feb, 2025

Mobilising opposition

POLITICS makes strange bedfellows. There has not, for quite some time, been a guest list as intriguing as the one...
No time left
Updated 06 Feb, 2025

No time left

Climate change concerns continue to remain a footnote as politics dominates national discourse, surfacing only when disaster strikes.
Karim Aga Khan
06 Feb, 2025

Karim Aga Khan

PRINCE Karim Aga Khan was a man who straddled various worlds and cultures. Beyond his role as spiritual leader of ...
Cotton production
06 Feb, 2025

Cotton production

PAKISTAN’S cotton crop is on the ropes. The crop output has been falling since FY15, when the country harvested a...