This story is from December 22, 2019

‘Historical wrong righted with CAA’

Defending the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA), state BJP general secretary Damodar Naik on Saturday said Pakistan’s failure to follow the Nehru-Liaquat Pact of 1950 in spirit necessitated amendments to the Citizenship Act, 1955.
‘Historical wrong righted with CAA’
The directorate of sports and youth affairs organised a rally to create awareness of the Constitution, in Panaji
MARGAO: Defending the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA), state BJP general secretary Damodar Naik on Saturday said Pakistan’s failure to follow the Nehru-Liaquat Pact of 1950 in spirit necessitated amendments to the Citizenship Act, 1955. He blamed the unrest in various parts of India on attempts made by Congress to foment communal disharmony.
“The CAA has to be viewed against the historical background of the Partition.
While the pact requires both India and Pakistan to ensure protection of the rights of the minorities, Pakistan has persistently contravened the provisions by subjecting the minority community to harassment. As pointed out by home minister Amit Shah in Parliament, the Narendra Modi government has corrected the historical wrong by offering citizenship to the religious minority refugees from the three countries specified in the Act — Pakistan, Bangaladesh and Afghanisthan,” Naik told TOI.
To drive home his point that India consistently safeguarded the rights and security of the minorities, Naik said that while minority populations in India stood at 3 crore, or 9.8%, at the time of the Partition, Census 2011 figures put the population at 17.2 crore or 14.2% of the population. In contrast, while the population of non-Muslims in Pakistan during Partition stood at 23%, it has dwindled to 2.7%, Naik said.
Allaying Indian Muslims’ fears, Naik said that though the CAA intends to give citizenship to people of six communities living in India, it does not deal with deportation of illegal immigrants. “Although the Act protects Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians — who had entered India illegally — from deportation by giving them an opportunity to apply for citizenship, it has got nothing to do with deportation, which is the subject matter of another law, the Foreigners Act,” he said. He blamed Congress and other opposition parties for instilling “unfounded fears” among Indian Muslims by fomenting communal tension.
Stating that CAA was a special one-time measure for religious minorities who have come to India after facing persecution in the three specified countries, Naik said, “However, the CAA doesn’t render existing naturalisation laws invalid; and thus any person, including Muslims, from any foreign country seeking Indian citizenship can apply for it under the existing laws, and CAA doesn’t prohibit that,” Naik said.

Countering the argument about why Shias, Ahmadiyyas, Hazaras, Balochs and Rohingya are not included in the CAA if it was about religious persecution, Naik said as all these are Muslim ethnic groups and not recognised as separate religions, they are not minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, which are either officially Islamic countries or have a very high Muslim majority. “The three countries specified in the Act have their own state religion and Islamic rules. Islamic majority nations identify their people as per who follows Islam and who does not... But if any Muslims are being persecuted in these countries for practising their version of Islam, they can apply for asylum in India,” Naik said.
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