By LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK
The claim that the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA), 2019 offers protection to persecuted minorities from the neighbouring countries is baseless, argued the Indian Union Muslim League in its written submission filed before the Supreme Court seeking stay of the Act and the Citizenship Amendment Rule 2024.
It was contended in the written submission, filed ahead of the hearing scheduled on April 9, that the CAA selectively excluded certain neighbouring countries and certain communities from its purview. The petitioner pointed out that only Hindus, Christians, Parsis, Sikhs and Jains from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are eligible for the benefit under the CAA, that too if they have entered India before December 31, 2014.The petitioner highlighted the following aspects :
i.Even while including Pakistan in the list of countries, it fails to extend protection to Ahmadiya community which is one of the most persecuted groups in Pakistan. It similarly excludes rationalists, atheists and agnostic persons who do not profess any religion.
ii. It excludes Myanmar, which was a part of British India till 1935 and where the International Court of Justice has arrived at a finding that genocide was perpetrated against Muslim Rohingyas refugees who are presently, due to persecution, living in India under abject conditions under threat of deportation.
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