US expresses concern over religious freedom in India, cites citizenship law

The remarks came in the wake of widespread protests held across India against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The US has expressed concern over the current situation of religious freedom in India and raised the issue with Indian officials, a senior State Department official has said.

The remarks came in the wake of widespread protests held across India against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The senior State Department official, on condition of anonymity, said that he has met with officials in India about what is taking place in the nation and expressed concern.

"We are concerned about what's taking place in India. I have met with the Indian foreign minister. I've met with the Indian ambassador (to express my concern)," the official, who was recently in India, told reporters on Wednesday.

The US has also "expressed desire first to try to help and work through some of these issues", the official said as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched a 27-nation International Religious Freedom Alliance.

"To me, the initial step we try to do in most places is say what can we do to be of help you work through an issue to where there's not religious persecution. That's the first step, is just saying can we work with you on this," the official said.

India maintains that the Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including its minority communities.

It is widely acknowledged that India is a vibrant democracy where the Constitution provides protection of religious freedom, and where democratic governance and rule of law further promote and protect fundamental rights, a senior official of the Ministry of External Affairs has said.

According to the CAA, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 following religious persecution there will get Indian citizenship.

Hundreds march from Jamia to Shaheen Bagh as anti-CAA protest continues

Many of them held candles and others marched holding placards that said, 'We reject CAA, NRC and NPR', 'Hindu Muslim Sikh Isai, Aapas Meyn Bhai Bhai'.

Business Standard : Hundreds of people, including women and children, on Sunday evening took out a massive anti-CAA march from Jamia university gate to Shaheen Bagh as the chorus to demand repealing of the amended Citizenship Act grew louder in Delhi.

The march was high on symbolism as some locals dressed up as Mahatma Gandhi and B R Ambedkar, while three men assumed the identity of martyred revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, one of them in prison clothes and tied in chains.

The protesters, chanting 'Azadi' and 'CAA-NCR Par Halla Bol', and other slogans also paraded a mock 'detention camp' portrayed with a cell on wheels inside of which sat little children of multiple faiths and changed slogans.

People have been protesting at Shaheen Bagh, which has become an epicentre of the anti-CAA agitation in the national capital, for the last over 30 days.

Many of them held candles and others marched holding placards that said, 'We reject CAA, NRC and NPR', 'Hindu Muslim Sikh Isai, Aapas Meyn Bhai Bhai'.

After the march ended, protesters gathered from various parts of Delhi, raised slogans against the central government and demanded revocation of the CAA.

Mohammed Shah Rukh, a protester who came from Jaitpur, carrying the national flag spent his time trying to balance on the rail of the highway that runs through the area, while holding the tricolour in his hand in a "freedom fighter pose".

"I feel very overwhelmed by this movement, something we read in school textbooks about our freedom struggle, I feel we are fighting for that liberty again," he said.

Khan, a car mechanic, said some of his brothers also took part in the protest.

Several poets from various parts of the country also have gathered at Shaheen Bagh protest site, reciting patriotic poems, imbued with sarcasm towards the establishment.

Till late night, people had gathered in large numbers to listen to the poets, including women, who watched and chanted slogans way past midnight.

A group of four women, including two college girls, had come from Batla House to take part in the protest.

German IIT-M student asked to leave India for taking part in CAA protest

The student, Jacob Lindenthal, had one semester to do on the campus before scheduled return in May 2020.

A German student at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has said he was asked to leave India for protesting against the new citizenship law that has sparked unrest across the country.

“1933 to 1945; We Have Been There,” said a poster Jacob Lindenthal, carried when he joined other people in Chennai to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act last week. Lindenthal had a semester left of his post-graduation in Physics and he was scheduled to leave India in May 2020

Lindenthal told news organizations IIT-Madras and immigration officials asked him to leave Chennai on Monday. “There were apparently administration issues with my visa. After ruling these out, I was extensively questioned by the immigration officer about my political opinions. Then I was informed about the decision (asking him to leave),” he was quoted by News18.com as saying.

He added that he would consult his lawyer and decide the next course of action.

A students' body, ChintaBar, tweeted in solidarity with Lindenthal.

Citing sources, The Indian Express reported that an IIT official had sent a report about Lindenthal’s participation in the protests to “higher-ups.” When contacted by the newspaper, IIT officials said they were unaware of the “incident” involving Lindenthal.

Reports said a foreigner participating in a political activity or protest is a violation of visa norms.

Business Standard

Citizenship Act to adversely impact Northeast people: Assamese group in US

The AANA also urged the prime minister to update the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) released on August 31, 2019.

CAB : The recently enacted Citizenship Amendment Act will adversely impact people of Assam and the northeast, an association representing the Assamese community in North America said.

In a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Assam Association of North America urged that the Assam Accord of 1985 be implemented in its entirety, where it should prevail over the Act in case of any conflict.

"The recent passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, causes us concern that it will adversely impact the people of Assam and the northeast," said the association in its letter, dated December 14.

"We see this Act as a threat to the integrity and unabridged continuity of language, culture, demographics and economic wellbeing of the indigenous population of Assam and the northeast," the letter read.

To address the concerns, the AANA urged the prime minister to implement the 1985 Assam Accord in its entirety with the cut-off date of March 24, 1971 without further delay, and with an expedited date of completion.

"In case of any conflict between the CAA and the Assam Accord, the Assam Accord must prevail in order to ensure primacy in the public interest of the indigenous population of Assam," it said.

The AANA also urged the prime minister to update the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) released on August 31, 2019, with corrections necessary to enable full and complete implementation of the accord.

"While granting citizenship and settling refugees, take necessary steps to protect and preserve the cultural, social and linguistic identity of the indigenous people of Assam," the letter said.

India braces for more protests as anger grows against new citizenship law

Political leaders in Kerala, Punjab and West Bengal all said publicly they will not implement the law, setting up a potential conflict with the federal government in New Delhi.

BS : Tensions remain high across India Monday after five days of protests against a contentious new religion-based citizenship law turned violent in New Delhi, with police using tear gas to disperse crowds.

Anger against the law has fueled protests across the country, from Assam, about 1,900 kilometers (1,180 miles) to the east of Delhi, to demonstrations in Bengaluru and Mumbai. The agitation in Assam prompted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was scheduled to visit the state, the delay a three-day trip that was set to begin on Sunday.

The United Nations has described the law is “fundamentally discriminatory.”

Authorities shut down internet access in some districts in Assam -- which borders Bangladesh -- and in West Bengal as protesters defied police to take to the streets against the Citizenship Amendment Law. Passed Wednesday, it bars undocumented Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan from seeking citizenship but allows undocumented Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from these regions to do so.

Home Minister Amit Shah, who introduced the bill the parliament last week, called for calm on Sunday, saying cultures in northeastern states were not under threat.

ALSO READ: Citizenship law: Global criticism builds against Modi regime

Still, political leaders in Kerala, Punjab and West Bengal all said publicly they will not implement the law, setting up a potential conflict with the federal government in New Delhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has vowed to implement a citizenship drive nationwide to weed out undocumented migrants.

Assam was the first state to implement the register. The arduous process that ended in August 2019 has put about 1.9 million people at risk of becoming stateless. The new citizenship law has further raised concerns about the whittling away of values laid out in the secular constitution of the world’s second-most populous nation.

As protests raged in Delhi late on Sunday, student leaders and demonstrators were calling for police restraint and for the new law -- which they say goes against India’s secular constitution -- to be overturned.

50 students, detained during protests at Jamia, released: Delhi Police

Protesters torched four public buses and two police vehicles as they clashed with the police near Jamia Millia Islamia, during a demonstration against the amended Citizenship Act.

As many as 50 students, who were detained during protests at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi on Sunday, were released in the early hours of Monday, police said.

Of the 50 students, 35 were released from the Kalkaji police station and 15 from the New Friends Colony police station, a senior police officer said.

Earlier on Sunday night, the Delhi Minority Commission (DMC) issued a direction to the SHO of Kalkaji Police Station to release the "injured" Jamia students held there or take them for treatment at a reputed hospital without any delay.

The commission also directed the officer to file a compliance report by 3 pm on Monday.

In the order, DMC Chairman Zafarul Islam Khan said failure to implement it will attract appropriate action.

ALSO READ: Anti-CAA protests LIVE: 60 injured in Delhi, internet suspended in Bengal

Protesters torched four public buses and two police vehicles as they clashed with the police in New Friends Colony, near Jamia Millia Islamia, during a demonstration against the amended Citizenship Act on Sunday, leaving nearly 60 people including students, cops and fire fighters injured.

Police used batons and teargas shells to disperse the violent mob, but denied firing at them. However, videos of purported police firing, injured students in the university bathroom as well as footage of them bleeding emerged on the social media.

But Delhi Police refuted reports of any casualty during the clashes.

Following the arson on roads, police entered the Jamia university campus, where tension prevailed as several persons were detained for alleged involvement in the violence.

Business Standard