Relaxed citizenship law may get misused'

Guwahati: The citizenship (amendment) bill, 2016, proposed by the Central government may prove to be disastrous for Assam and West Bengal where a majority of the immigration from Bangladesh has been taking place without any valid documentation.

Security sources fear the amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, a law enacted to provide for the acquisition and determination of Indian citizenship, will provide another handle to undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants to claim citizenship of India. The bill, however, does not extend to illegal Muslim migrants.

A joint committee of parliamentarians is currently examining the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, after introduction in Lok Sabha in 2016.

To stop illegal Bangladeshis from getting citizenship, Assam is already updating the 1951 National Register of Citizens (NRC), under the supervision of the Supreme Court, to detect undocumented immigrants from the neighbouring country.

Indicating that the proposed amendment to citizenship act may complicate the situation more in Eastern India, where immigrants have been the cause of major unrest, security sources argued that even a day-old migrant India from Bangladesh can claim that he or she came six years ago and there is no foolproof mechanism to ascertain the truth.

The sources said that through the proposed amendment in the citizenship act, the Government of India aims to provide citizenship to persons who were forced to migrate due to religious persecution from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, there is no mechanism by which government agencies can identify and ascertain the status of migrants coming from Bangladesh.

The Centre has records of the minority communities, such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians migrating from Afghanistan and Pakistan but in case of Northeastern state — where a bulk of influx is from Bangladesh — but the authorities don’t have any record about their exact time of migration, security sources said.

Comparing the migration from Bangladesh and Pakistan as well as Afghanistan, security sources said that persons belonging to religious minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan have come with proper passport and visa and the Centre has proper records of their entry into India where as migration from Bangladesh is completely illegal.

A majority of migrants from Pakistan and Afghanistan are now settled in Rajasthan and Gujarat and have applied for Indian citizenship, on the pretext that they are not safe in their countries, security sources said that as they came with proper travel documents, it will be easier to identify and ascertain their date of arrival in India as the bill proposes to provide citizenship to persons who came six years back, sources said.

Under the existing provisions of the 1955 Act, persons belonging to the minority communities, such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who have either entered into India without valid travel documents or the validity of their documents have expired are regarded as illegal migrants and hence ineligible to apply for Indian citizenship. It is proposed to make them eligible for applying for Indian citizenship.

The proposed citizenship (amendment) bill 2016 says, “Many persons of Indian origin, including persons belonging to the aforesaid minority communities from the aforesaid countries have been applying for citizenship under Section 5 of the Act, but are unable to produce proof of their Indian origin. Hence, they are forced to apply for citizenship by naturalisation under Section 6 of the Act, which, inter alia, prescribes 12 years residency as qualification for naturalisation in terms of the Third Schedule to the Act. This denies them opportunities and advantages that may accrue only to citizens of India, even though they are likely to stay in India permanently. It is proposed to amend the Third Schedule to make applicants belonging to minority communities from the aforesaid countries eligible for citizenship by naturalisation in seven years instead of the existing 12 years.”

Pointing out that migration has been a major issue in India, which remained unaddressed, security sources regretted that even after 70 years of Independence, India does not have proper laws to deal with refugees, though India is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Refugees.

According to an estimate, there are around 40,000 Rohingya in the country and the identity cards issued to some of them by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees in Delhi are yet to be recognized by the Government of India.

On Tibetan refugees, sources said that there are proper records on the persons coming from there and the identity cards issued by the Central Tibetan Administration are recognized by the Government of India.