ISLAMABAD: In a worst, Indian top politicians and officials may face newsanctions in United States.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has showedconcerns over the passage of the discriminatory bill, on Tuesday.
According to reports, USCIRF said it will propose sanctions against seniormembers of the Indian political leadership if the bill is enacted as law.
The USCIRF in its statement noted that the bill specifically excludedMuslims, setting a legal criterion for citizenship based on religion.
“The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is a dangerous turn in the wrongdirection; it runs counter to India’s rich history of secular pluralism,”the statement said.
The commission also condemned the bill as a ‘violation’ of the Indianconstitution, relating it to recent efforts to introduce the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC) in Assam and nationwide. The NRC, like thecitizenship bill, is widely believed to be the brain-child of the IndianHome Minister, Amit Shah.
“USCIRF fears that the Indian government is creating a religious test forIndian citizenship that will strip citizenship from millions of Muslims,”the USCIRF warned.
In a statement made separately early Tuesday, the US House Foreign AffairsCommittee also condemned the passage of the contentious bill through theIndian lower house, saying that the so-called ‘religious test’ forcitizenship undermined basic democratic tenets shared by the US and India.
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The ruling BJP in India had included the passage of the CAB as part of itsmanifesto released ahead of elections in May 2019.
The citizenship bill also sparked protests in India’s northeastern states,where residents are unhappy about an influx of Hindus from neighbouringBangladesh.
In Guwahati in Assam state, protesters set fire to tyres, while tribalgroups staged protests in Tripura. Student groups called for dawn-to-duskshutdown in four districts of the state, while shops, businesses,educational and financial institutions remained shut and public transportstayed off the roads.
“We will fight and oppose the bill till the last drop of our blood,” AllAssam Students’ Union adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya told Reuters,underlining the region’s resistance against migrants amid fears that tensof thousands of settlers from neighbouring Bangladesh would gaincitizenship.
In Modi’s home state of Gujarat and the city of Kolkata, hundreds of peoplestaged protests and marched against the proposed law.
