Pakistan’s Hindu community has dismissed the offer made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of granting them citizenship under the newly ushered citizenship law.
The Indian Parliament has recently made amendments to its citizenship laws, providing citizenship rights to Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Parsi and Jain communities migrating from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan after facing harassment in their home countries.
However, this controversial and widely criticized law that excludes Muslims has served as a catalyst for mass protests across India.
#India: We are concerned that the new #CitizenshipAmendmentAct is fundamentally discriminatory in nature. Goal of protecting persecuted groups is welcomed, but new law does not extend protection to Muslims, incl. minority sects: https://t.co/ziCNTWvxc2#FightRacism #CABProtests pic.twitter.com/apWbEqpDOZ
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) December 13, 2019
Pakistani Hindus Reject Bill
Pakistan’s Hindu community has rejected Indian’s offer for citizenship, highlighting the menace of political gimmicks that divide the population by encouraging communal hatred.
Speaking to the international media, Raja Asar Manglani, a benefactor of the Pakistan Hindu Council, said, “Pakistan’s Hindu community unanimously rejects this bill, which is tantamount to dividing India on communal lines.”
Read more: Everyone can be Indian Citizen Except Muslims: Amit Shah talks Poison
Manglani added, “This is a unanimous message from Pakistan’s entire Hindu community to Indian Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi. A true Hindu will never support this legislation.” He observed that the law was a clear violation of the Indian constitution.
Speaking to media, Anwar Lal Dean, a Christian representative of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the Senate, also observed that the new law is targeted at promoting rivalries between the various religious communities of India. He said, “This is a clear violation of fundamental human rights. We categorically reject it.”
Dean observed that decisions like abrogating Occupied Jammu & Kashmir’s autonomous status, the Indian Supreme Court’s verdict on the Babri Mosque dispute and the burgeoning trend of targeting minorities are gross human rights violations. The PPP leader said, “Through such unjust and uncalled steps, the Modi government wants to pitch religious communities against each other.”
CAB protests: Over 10,000 academics including Romila Thapar condemn ‘police brutality’ at Jamia, AMU https://t.co/YMSh6Nc4K0
— nikhil wagle (@waglenikhil) December 18, 2019
Pakistan’s Sikh community has also condemned the controversial citizenship law passed by the Modi government. Gopal Singh, a prominent Sikh leader, said, “Not only Pakistani Sikhs but the entire Sikh community in the world, including those in India, also condemn this move.”
He added, “The Sikh community is a minority both in India and Pakistan. Being a member of a minority, I can feel the pain and the fears of the Muslim minority (in India). This is simply persecution.”
India’s Fudged Minority Claims
Introducing the controversial citizenship bill in the Indian Parliament, Home Minister Amit Shah said that the non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan had witnessed an alarming reduction in the past few years.
He said that in 1947, minorities constituted 23% of Pakistan’s population, but today, he said that they have “decreased to a mere 3.7%.” He claimed that this reduction indicates that these minorities have either “migrated, killed or forced to convert to Islam.”
Read more: US court summons Modi & Amit Shah: Atrocities against Kashmiris & Sikhs
Pakistan dismissed these fudged claims and figures, and as per the official census, the minority population in 1947 was not 23% of the total population. Official figures reveal that in the 1961 census, non-Muslims made up 2.83% of the population, and in 1972, the accounted for 3.25% of the total population, witnessing an increase of 0.42%.
A decade later, in 1981, the census figures revealed that the non-Muslim population was 3.30%, and in 1998, they constituted 3.70% of the total population.
Raising concerns over India’s controversial citizenship bill, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, on Monday, “Concerned about the brutal & indiscriminate use of force by the state on Indian Muslim students of Jamia Millia Islamia & Aligarh Muslim University, protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Bill.”
Concerned about the brutal & indiscriminate use of force by the state on Indian Muslim students of Jamia Millia Islamia & Aligarh Muslim University, protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) December 16, 2019
The Foreign Minister added, “The Modi Government continues to curb & undermine the rights of minorities in accordance with Hindutva Supremacist ideology. Illegal Annexation of Kashmir, Babari Masjid, Citizenship Amendment Bill which excludes Muslims are all targeted towards subjugation of Minorities.”
The Modi Government continues to curb & undermine the rights of minorities in accordance with Hindutva Supremacist ideology. Illegal Annexation of Kashmir, Babari Masjid, Citizenship Amendment Bill which excludes Muslims are all targeted towards subjugation of Minorities. https://t.co/nIw0KmPVkm
— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) December 16, 2019