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By APD writer Rishika Chauhan
NEW DELHI, Dec. 15, (APD)-- A deputy spokesperson of United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, on Friday criticized India’s new citizenship law, called Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).
He said, “We are aware that the lower and upper houses of the Indian Parliament have passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill, and we are also aware of the concerns that have been publicly expressed.”
“The United Nations is closely analysing the possible consequences of the law,” he stressed.
He further informed that UN human rights mechanisms, including rapporteurs, “have already been expressing their concerns about the nature of this law…”
“As I mentioned a few days earlier, of course, we have our basic principles, including those enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and expect those to be upheld,” he added.
US has also expressed its concern over the basic tenets of CAB. In a tweet a US agency said, “Religious pluralism is central to the foundations of both India and the United States and is one of our core shared values. Any religious test for citizenship undermines this most basic democratic tenet.”
In a statement on CAB, the Trump administration on Friday asked India to “protect the rights of its religious minorities” stressing that the amendment should keep up with the Indian, “Constitution and democratic values”.
CAB, came in effect on Thursday. The new amendment gives Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Jains and Parsis who came to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014.
However, the law does not include Muslims and has been opposed in several parts of India, especially in the northeast.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
