Reiterating its opposition against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) on Wednesday expressed its disagreement with the Meghalaya High Court’s appeal to the Central government to grant Indian citizenship to immigrants Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who face prosecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
In a statement issued on Wednesday evening, KSU general secretary, Donald V Thabah said, “….in response to the recent appeal by the Meghalaya High Court to the Prime Minister of India to grant instantaneous citizenship to the aforesaid groups once they seek refuge in India, the Union completely disagrees without taking into account all the aspects including the demographic structure of the North Eastern States in India.”
In a judgment passed on December 10, judge of the Meghalaya High Court, Justice S R Sen said, “I can simply say that the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist, Parsis, Christians, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos residing in India which ever date maybe, they have come to India are to be declared all as Indian citizens and those who will come in future also to be considered as Indian citizens.”
The single bench of the High Court passed this judgment after hearing a petition filed by one Amon Rana, who was denied domicile certificate.
“I request our beloved Prime Minister, Home Minister, Law Minister and Members of the Parliament to bring a law to allow the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist, Parsis, Christians, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to live in this country peacefully and with full dignity without making any cut off year and be given citizenship without any question or production of any documents,” he said.
The KSU while stating that it was not against any humanitarian venture by the country, said, “It feels that prior to the implementation of any international humanitarian Act, the humanitarian perspective of the microscopic indigenous communities of North East India should also be taken into account.”
Stating that there are approximately 14 million Hindus in Bangladesh, the KSU leader cited an example of Meghalaya which has only more than 1 million ethnic Khasis, currently facing the wrath of unabated influx from migrants belonging to other communities.