European Union wants Indian Supreme Court to tackle CAA issue but reiterates concern over 'discriminatory' provisions
 |
| Historic 15th India-EU Virtual Summit |
The European Union has once again expressed concerns over a controversial citizenship law in India that allegedly discriminates against Muslims, but said it had faith the country's top court would address them.
At a virtual summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 15, European Union leaders expressed concern that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed last December "contradicted" India’s own Constitution, which guarantees the right to equality for every person.
"I would like to say that we trust Indian institutions. We understand the Supreme Court will have a role to play to assess this legislation,” said Charles Michel, president of the European Council, at a virtual press briefing (from Brussels) after the India-EU Virtual Summit 2020.
"You know that in the European Parliament this was an important topic, and we raised this issue in our talks,” he said referring to the new law.
The controversial law passed in a parliament dominated by Modi’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), triggered nationwide protests and also sharp criticism from government detractors.Related News-Protests spread over India's controversial citizenship law Protests spread over India's controversial citizenship lawIndia’s new citizenship law is not just against MuslimsIndia’s new citizenship law is not just against MuslimsUS panel downgrades India in religious freedom ratingUS panel downgrades India in religious freedom ratingPandemic fails to end anti-Christian violence in IndiaPandemic fails to end anti-Christian violence in India
The law aims to provide citizenship to migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India on or before Dec. 31, 2014. But it restricts eligibility to people belonging to six religious groups — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — and excludes Muslims.
An official of India’s Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that the issue was brought up by the EU during the virtual summit.
Indian authorities feel the EU leaders are also attempting to strike a balance on the issue by "expressing their faith" in Indian institutions (the Supreme Court in this case) to address the grievances.
However, the Indian government has insisted the citizenship law is not discriminatory.
BJP leaders and government officials maintain that the aim of the CAA is to ensure that citizenship is granted to "persecuted religious minorities, including Christians and Hindus" coming from the three neighboring countries.
Socialist leader Dharmendra Yadav agreed with the EU criticism."The European Union has done its homework, the law not only discriminates against Muslims from the three countries, it specifically excludes Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar,” he told UCA News.
Such a law violates international norms as Amnesty International and the United Nations have described Rohingyas as the world’s most persecuted minority, he said.Critics say the law shows the BJP’s historical animosity toward Muslims and their support for the ideology of making India a Hindu-only nation. The law has prompted detractors of the BJP both in India and abroad to speak out.
A senior Trinamool Congress party leader in West Bengal says the purpose of the law was to “provide legitimacy to the idea of religious persecution” in neighboring nations and help religious minorities.
“But whether its a goof-up or deliberate, the term religious persecution is not included in the final text of the bill. Why?" he asked.
As many as 626 of 751 members of the European Union parliament had moved six resolutions in January on the
Citizenship Amendment Act and the Modi government's clampdown on Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of
a constitutional provision (Article 370) that earlier gave autonomy to Muslim-stronghold state of J&K - which of course
was a 'militacy hit' province.
Indian government said abrogation of the Article would help 'integrating' Muslim-majority Kashmir with the national
mainstream and also fight the terror menace.
Many opposition leaders are still detained since then in Kashmir.
In January this year, as many as six groups of European Union parliamentarians moved the resolutions but the
voting on the same was deferred. Indian diplomats saw the postponement as "their victory" and that EU officially
did not want to take a formal stance against the Modi government.
The six groups were - the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats with 154 members; the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) with 182 members; European United Left and Nordic Green Left with 41 members; Greens/European Free Alliance with 75 members; Conservatives and Reformists with 66 members; and the Renew Europe Group with 108 members.
India has, however, insisted that the Citizenship Law was not discriminatory.
BJP leaders and officials in the Modi government maintained that the aim of the
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is to ensure that citizenship is granted to "persecuted religious minorities,
including Christians and Hindus" coming from three neighboring countries - Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
However, opposition parties, minority communities leaders and western media have pushed the
line that the law was discriminatory to Muslims.
A sub-committee of European Parliament on human rights had also written to PM Modi's trusted aide
and federal Home Minister Amit Shah about its concerns over the arrest of some activists.
When contacted an Indian official said: "The European Council and the European Commission had taken
a line in June that the European Parliament is an 'independent entity' which sometimes take positions which
do not necessarily reflect the position of either the Council or the Commission".
The EU has been raising the issue of clampdown on Kashmir as well.
But a delegation of 27 politicians, including far-right MPs from France and the UK visited Kashmir amid tight security.
India's belligerent neighbour Pakistan had condemned the change of status of Kashmir territory, that India
described as 'internal matter' of India.
"The delegation of Members of European Parliament is not on an official visit in India and came here at the invitation of a non-government group," an EU official in India had said last year on condition of anonymity.
Notably, EU Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini earlier raised the issue of "restrictions on fundamental freedoms"
in Kashmir with India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar.
It is also worth mentioning here that in the context of CAA, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights has also slammed the law. It also insisted that the arrest of the anti-CAA protesting leaders were
unjustified.
"The arrest seems clearly designed to send a chilling message to India's vibrant civil society that criticism of government policies will not be tolerated," it had said.
A sub-committee of European Parliament on human rights had also written to federal Home Minister
Amit Shah, the man who piloted the controversial draft law in Indian Parliament, about its concerns over the
arrest of activists Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde.
Curiously but not surprisingly, both EU and India are keen to enhance bilateral ties and give further push to trades.
Both sides have decided to revive the stalled parleys (since 2013) for a Free Trade Agreement and hence 'uncomfortable'
matters may be avoided.
EU also needs to diversify its supply chain from China to other areas like India and hence in order push up
trade ties, controversial issues like Kashmir and CAA can be put on a backburner.
The EU is also one of the largest investors in India with cumulative investment of over $91 billion.
The EU is also India's largest trading partner for goods with trade exceeding $100 billion.
In his remarks, Prime Minister Modi has emphasised that India and EU are "natural partners".
Ends
Corona positive cases among NDRF, BSF personnel worry northeast
New Delhi/Shillong: Meghalaya is the new state in the northeast of India that has witnessed
surge of active Coronavirus cases among Border Security Force(BSF) personnel.
The state Health and Family Welfare Minister Alexander Laloo Hek said 55 new positive cases
were detected on Friday which include 52 BSF troopers from Shillong in Khashi hills and Tura in Garo hills region.
The state government has made it mandatory for all BSF personnel entering the state “from outside”
to undergo Covid19 tests.
In recent past, similar problems related to increase in number of cases among BSF and other central forces were witnessed in two other northeastern states of Mizoram and Tripura also.
“Of the 77 active cases in Mizoram as of July 12 (Sunday), as many as 54 are from BSF, NDRF and
other central forces. This is a worrying factor,” a state Home Department official said.
Mizoram – so far – had 227 positive cases of corona and out of these 150 people have been cured, he said.
“Most paramilitary personnel infected with the killer virus have been outside the state lately on leave.
Therefore, the central forces deployed in Mizoram have been urged now by the Mizoram Home Department not to grant leave to their officers and soldiers unless there is extreme urgency,” the official said.
The tiny state nestled in the wilds of northeast has seen a sudden increase in positive cases after 22 NDRF personnel at Lungverh near the state capital were tested positive.
The Aizawl district administration has also taken cognizance after the reports showed NDRF personnel had tested positive at the local Zoram Medical College (ZMC) laboratory.
Deputy Commissioner Van Lalngaihsaka quickly plunged into action and ordered that all those present in the NDRF camp should strictly abide by quarantine rules and no one will be allowed to venture outside the camp.
Most NDRF personnel deployed in Aizawl are originally from the BSF posted on ‘deputation’ to the anti-disaster unit, sources said.
“It perhaps raised the fear about community transmission and thus the district administration actions make sense,” said a local resident Pu Laldin Shailow.
The district administration has also started ‘contact tracing’ and swab samples would be sent for examinations.
In Meghalaya, the state government has declared the BSF Meghalaya Frontier headquarters at Umpling
area in the capital Shillong as a containment zone and has decided to conduct random testings in Umpling, Nongmensong, Mawpat and Rynjah localities “surrounding” the headquarters.
The ‘fear’ of BSF personnel getting tested positive came from another northeastern state of Tripura in May.
By the second week of May, as many as 121 personnel of the Border Security Force had tested positive for coronavirus in Tripura after a series of new cases had surfaced from three battalions of the BSF.
The elite BSF guards the 856 km-long border that Tripura shares with Bangladesh. The vital
paramilitary force has as many as 18 battalions posted in the state.
The BJP-led coalition government in the state has urged the BSF to conduct an inquiry into how the
virus has spread among its men.
However, things have not changed much.
In June yet again, there were corona positive cases among the BSF personnel.
Taking to twitter, chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb wrote: “43 people found POSITIVE out of 1250 samples tested.
Among them: 3 from 34 Bn BSF, 6 from 164 Bn BSF, 4 from 120 Bn BSF, 26 from 74 Bn BSF. Four civilians”.
Of course, the issue of a large number of coronavirus cases in BSF and other central forces including CISF, CRPF and ITBP were discussed at high level meetings by Home Minister Amit Shah with
senior home ministry officials in Delhi.
The centre has separately issued Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the central forces deployed in various parts of the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment