Intelligence Bureau, R&AW had
wavered on CAB provisionsSanjib Kr Baruah // NEW DELHI
The Lok Sabha may have okayed the
Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) after the Union home minister Amit Shah tabled
it in the house on Monday, but it was the Intelligence Bureau (IB), India’s main
internal intelligence agency, and the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), mandated
with the country’s external intelligence, that had expressed apprehensions,
albeit on separate grounds, on the proposed legislation.
Representatives of the IB and RAW
had deposed four times before a parliamentary joint committee on CAB on September
21, 2016, October 3, 2016, March 22, 2017, and October 23, 2018. The committee comprised
30 MPs including 20 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.
On whether claims of religious
persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan could be verified, the IB
had said that such individuals had entered India and had sought Indian citizenship
decades ago. “It is not possible to verify their claim now. However, for recent
cases, if any, due verification would be made before their claim for Indian
Citizenship is entertained.”
And how will that verification
take place?
The IB reply said: “For an
applicant who applies with an affidavit mentioning that he/she was compelled to
migrate to India due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution,
alongwith other supporting documents, a detailed enquiry will be conducted by
Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO)/Foreigners Registration Office
(FRO) concerned to verify his/her claim. If the affidavit is not supported by
documents, the case will be referred to Foreigners Tribunals to be constituted
for this purpose under the Foreigners (Tribunals).”
On the available mechanism to establish
‘religious persecution’ in either Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, the home
ministry stated: “Inputs from security agencies alongwith other corroborative
evidence in the print/electronic media would help to establish religious
persecution in a foreign land.”
The Director, IB, also claim that
at the moment, 31,313 persons who had entered India and had applied for Indian
citizenship on grounds of religious persecution in their respective country would
be granted immediate citizenship. But there will be many others who might have
come and they might have already taken citizenship by various means by obtaining
passports, ration cards etc. “For all practical purposes, they are already
citizens of this country. Tribunals are already there to identify if any of
them has obtained it by fraudulent means.”
The joint secretary of R&AW,
deposing before the committee had expressed apprehension that CAB may be used
by certain agencies (possibly referring to Pakistani intelligence agencies and
others) to infiltrate their agents and supporters into India.
He said: “... our only concern
has been that the agencies who are inimical to us should not have a legal
framework within which they can exploit our situation and infiltrate their own
people into our own country. That is a matter of great concern for us...”
The CAB proposes to grant Indian
citizenship to people of six religions (Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis
and Christians) from three countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan) on
grounds of religious persecution if they have been residing in India before
December 31, 2014, for at least 12 months immediately preceding the application
for citizenship and for 6 of the 14 years preceding the 12-month period. (END)
