The United Nations on Tuesday refused to comment on the Indian Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, saying that it was an internal legislative process of a nation. It however, expressed hope that all nations pursue non discriminatory laws in accordance with the UN Charter.
When questioned about the passage of the bill during the weekly briefing, Farhan Haq who is presently the Deputy Spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that: “As far as I am aware, this legislation will go through a legislative process. We do not have a comment while the domestic legislative process is being carried out.
“At the same time, our concerns are only of being sure that all governments peruse non discriminatory laws”.
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The historic legislation was passed with an overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha on Monday. It is currently being debated in the Rajya Sabha.
The bill seeks to provide citizenship to illegal immigrants belonging to the non-Muslim communities belonging who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains, Christians and Zoroastrians from the nations of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Critics have pointed that this bill goes against the basic structure of the Indian constitution and is violative of the principles of secularism. It has also raised concerns of change in demographic profile and burdening of resources in the North Eastern part of India.
On Tuesday, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) had said that the bill was a “dangerous turn in the wrong direction” and had even called on the US government to impose sanctions against Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Ministry of External Affairs immediately rubbished these comments and said that the organization has neither the knowledge nor the locus standi to comment on this legislation. It reiterated that India is a sovereign nation which will decide its citizenship laws.