U.S. panel eyes sanctions for Indian minister over citizenship curb for Muslims

[snoop1130]

U.S. panel eyes sanctions for Indian minister over citizenship curb for Muslims

By Devjyot Ghoshal

 

A policeman removes burning tires set ablaze by demonstrators during the strike to protest against Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), a bill that seeks to give citizenship to religious minorities persecuted in neighbouring Muslim countries, in Guwahati, India, December 10, 2019. REUTERS/Anuwar Hazarika

 

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A federal panel on religion has urged the United States to weigh sanctions against India’s Home Minister Amit Shah if the south Asian nation adopts legislation to exclude Muslims from a path to citizenship for religious minorities from its neighbours.

 

Shah is a close associate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu nationalist-led government is seen by critics as pushing an agenda that undermines the secular foundations of India’s democracy.

 

On Tuesday, parliament’s lower house approved the measure covering citizenship for non-Muslim minorities, specifically Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Parsis and Sikhs, who fled Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before 2015.

 

The bill has prompted criticism at home and abroad, as it marks the first time India is weighing religion in granting citizenship, although it must first pass the upper house of parliament, where Modi’s party lacks a majority.

 

The measure goes against India’s constitution, which guarantees legal equality to people of all faiths, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said.

 

    “If the CAB passes in both houses of parliament, the United States government should consider sanctions against the Home Minister and other principal leadership,” the panel said in a statement, referring to the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).

 

The panel is a bipartisan body that makes foreign policy recommendations to the U.S. leadership.

 

India’s foreign ministry called the panel’s statement inaccurate, saying the bill sought to help persecuted religious minorities already in the country.

 

“It seeks to address their current difficulties and meet their basic human rights,” said ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar.

 

Hindus in Bangladesh, Christians in Pakistan and Sikhs in Afghanistan, all Muslim-majority nations, have faced violence in recent years, but India’s opposition parties, minority groups and academics have said the bill discriminates against Muslims.

 

During Monday’s parliament debate, opposition politician Asaduddin Owaisi ripped up a copy of the bill, calling it a move by the Modi government to render Muslims “stateless”.

 

But Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which promised the measure in an election campaign that swept it to power in May, says the law is needed to help persecuted minority individuals in its neighbours.

 

“If minorities in our neighbouring countries are being persecuted, then India cannot stay a silent spectator,” Shah told parliament.

 

The bill is the third key election promise Modi’s government has delivered since August.

 

The scrapping of autonomy for the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir and permission from India’s top court for moves to build a Hindu temple at a disputed religious site have bolstered right-wing supporters, and diverted attention from a slowing economy.

 

Now the BJP must win support from smaller regional groups to push the bill through the upper house of parliament this week.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-12-10

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[Srikcir]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

U.S. panel eyes sanctions for Indian minister over citizenship curb for Muslims

Trump senior advisor Stephen Miller, architect of the first Muslim travel ban, will support the curb.

Such then will Trump, especially since he'd be on Modi's side for the curb and look for Modi's appreciation for Trump's support.

[Tchooptip]

The US puts its nose everywhere under the pretext of democracy, but only when it suits their business, otherwise they close their eyes and plug their ears, they have the most hiprocritical foreign policy in the world while doing everything possible for it to look all beautiful all nice.