CAA could result in 'disenfranchisement' of Muslims in India: USCIRF

US Commission on International Religious Freedom has said that the Citizenship Act could result in 'disenfranchisement' of Muslims in India. The USCIRF members also noted that right to a nationality is a fundamental human right.

Washington: Members of a Congress created federal body that monitors violation of religious freedom abroad expressed concern over India's amended citizenship laws, saying it could result in the "wide-scale disenfranchisement" of Muslims in the country.

Members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) along with an invited panel of experts convened a hearing mainly focused on India's Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the Rohingya Muslims issue in Myanmar to help develop policy recommendations for the US government in response to the issues.

Noting that the right to a nationality is a fundamental human right and serves as a bedrock for accompanying political and civil rights, USCIRF chair Tony Perkins said that denying individuals this fundamental recognition not only strips them of accompanying rights but also denies them the ability to participate in the political process and use legal pathways to seek redress for discrimination and persecution.

Referring to the CAA and the National Register of Citizens(NRC), Anurima Bhargava, USCIRF Commissioner, said the recent actions by the Indian government were troubling.

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"There are fears, however, that this law in conjunction with a planned National Population Register and a potential nation-wide National Register of Citizens, or NRC, could result in the wide-scale disenfranchisement of Indian Muslims," she said.

"This would leave them vulnerable to prolonged detention, deportation, and violence. We are already seeing this process being conducted in the northeastern state of Assam...The NRC is a mechanism for identifying illegal migrants in the region, she alleged.

India has previously described the comments by the USCIRF and a "few individuals" over violence in the national capital as "factually inaccurate, misleading" and an attempt to politicise the issue.

We have seen comments made by the USCIRF, sections of the media and a few individuals regarding recent incidents of violence in Delhi. These are factually inaccurate and misleading, and appear to be aimed at politicising the issue," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said last month.

The new citizenship law passed by the Indian Parliament in December 2019 offers citizenship to non-Muslim persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The Indian government has maintained that the CAA is an internal matter of the country and stressed that the goal is to protect the oppressed minorities of neighbouring countries.

(With inputs from PTI)