Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
India announces steps to implement a citizenship law that
excludes Muslims
SHEIKH SAALIQ
Mon, March 11, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. PDT
NEW DELHI (AP) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government
on Monday announced rules to implement a 2019 citizenship law that excludes
Muslims, weeks before the Hindu nationalist leader seeks a third term in
office.
The Citizenship Amendment Act provides a fast track to naturalization for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before Dec. 31, 2014. The law excludes Muslims, who are a majority in all three nations.
The law was approved by Indian Parliament in 2019, but Modi’s government had held off with its implementation after deadly protests broke out in capital New Delhi and elsewhere. Scores were killed during days of clashes.
The nationwide protests in 2019 drew people of all faiths who said the law undermines India’s foundation as a secular nation. Muslims were particularly worried that the government could use the law, combined with a proposed national register of citizens, to marginalize them.
The National Register of Citizens is part of Modi government’s effort to identify and weed out people it claims came to India illegally. The register has only been implemented in the northeastern state of Assam, and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has promised to roll out a similar citizenship verification program nationwide.
Modi’s government has defended the 2019 citizenship law as a humanitarian gesture. It argues that the law is meant only to extend citizenship to religious minorities fleeing persecution and would not be used against Indian citizens.
“These rules will now enable minorities persecuted on religious grounds in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to acquire citizenship in our nation,” Home Minister Amit Shah wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
India’s main opposition Congress party questioned the announcement, saying “the timing right before the elections is evidently designed to polarize the elections.”
Human rights watchdog Amnesty India in a statement called the law “discriminatory” and said it “goes against the constitutional values of equality and international human rights law.” It said the law “legitimizes discrimination based on religion” and is “exclusionary in its structure and intent.”
India is home to 200 million Muslims who make up a large minority group in the country of more than 1.4 billion people. They are scattered across almost every part of India and have been targeted in a series of attacks that have taken place Modi first assumed power in 2014.
Critics say Modi’s conspicuous silence over anti-Muslim violence has emboldened some of his most extreme supporters and enabled more hate speech against Muslims.
Modi has increasingly mixed religion with politics in a formula that has resonated deeply with India’s majority Hindu population. In January, he opened a Hindu temple at the site of a demolished mosque in northern Ayodhya city, fulfilling his party’s long-held Hindu nationalist pledge.
Translation
新德里（美聯社）—印度教民族主義領導人尋求第三次連任前幾週，總理莫迪政府週一宣布了實施2019年公民法的規則，該法將穆斯林排除在外。
《公民權修正案》為2014 年12 月31 日之前從阿富汗、孟加拉和巴基斯坦三個逃往印度教徒佔多數的印度的印度教徒、帕西人、錫克教徒、佛教徒、耆那教徒和基督徒提供了入籍的快速通道。該法不包括穆斯林，因為他們是在那三個國家中佔多數。
該法律於 2019 年獲得印度議會批准，但在首都新德里和其他地方爆發致命抗議活動後，莫迪政府推遲了該法律的實施。 在連日抗議活動的衝突中，數十人喪生。
國家公民登記冊是莫迪政府識別和清除其聲稱的非法進入印度的人努力的一部分。 該登記冊僅在東北部的阿薩姆邦實施，執政的印度人民黨已承諾在全國推出類似的公民身份驗證計劃。
莫迪政府將 2019 年公民法辯護為是一種人道主義的姿態。 它認為該法律只是為了將公民身分擴大到逃離迫害的宗教少數群體，不會用於針對印度公民。
內政部長 Amit Shah 在X（前Twitter）上寫道：「這些規則現在將使巴基斯坦、孟加拉和阿富汗因宗教原因受到迫害的少數群體能夠獲得我們國家的公民身份。 」
印度主要反對黨國大黨對此公告提出質疑，稱「時機是在選舉之前,顯然是為了使選舉兩極化」。
人權監督機構 特赦印度 在一份聲明中稱該法律具有 “歧視性” ，並表示它“違反了平等的憲法價值觀和國際人權法”。 它表示，該法律 “使基於宗教的歧視合法化” ，並且 “其結構和意圖具有排他性” 。
印度有 2 億穆斯林，他們在這個 14 億多人口的國家中構成了一個龐大的少數民族群體。 他們幾乎遍布印度各地，並成為 2014 年莫迪上台後發生的一系列襲擊的目標。
批評人士表示，莫迪對反穆斯林暴力的明顯沉默，讓他的一些最極端的支持者更加大膽，並導致更多針對穆斯林的仇恨言論。
莫迪越來越多地將宗教與政治混合在一起，這種做法與印度佔多數的印度教人口產生了深刻的共鳴。 一月份，他在阿約提亞市北部一座被拆除的清真寺遺址上開設了一座印度教寺廟，履行了該黨長期以來的印度教民族主義承諾。
大多數民調顯示，莫迪將在定於五月舉行的大選中贏得多數席位。
So, India government has announced rules to implement a citizenship law that would exclude Muslims. The Citizenship Amendment Act provides a fast track to naturalization for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The law excludes Muslims. Every country has its own history and path of development. India is a democratic country in which different idea and religion are permitted. Religious conflict is always a problem that poses challenges to the political leaders in India. I am wondering why globally Muslims are often the center of attention in many political issues happening in these days.
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