Islam Times - India effectively strips four million people of citizenship in Assam State

Islam Times - The Indian government has effectively taken away the citizenship of some four million people in Assam, raising serious concerns over mass deportations of Muslim minorities from the northeastern state.

The draft National Register of Citizens (NRC), published on Monday, includes only those able to prove they were in Assam before 1971, when millions fled Bangladesh’s war of independence into the state.

Human rights observers say the move is the effective stripping of the citizenship of Indian Muslims, provoking fears that a new stateless community of Muslims may come into existence besides Myanmar’s Rohingya.

More than 30 million people had applied to be included on the list, of whom just over four million were excluded from the draft published on Monday, said Shailesh, the registrar general of India, who uses one name.

“No genuine Indian citizens need to worry as there will be ample opportunities given to them to enlist their names in the final NRC,” he told a news conference in Assam’s biggest city Guwahati.

He said those wishing to appeal could do so under “well-laid-down procedures” starting August 30. The definitive NRC is due to be finalized in December.

“We are going to provide assistance to anyone whose names are not included in the document and whoever wishes to file a claim and objection in this regard,” Shailesh added.

Critics view the draft as the latest attempt by the right-wing Hindu-dominated government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant greater privilege to the Hindus at the expense of the minority communities ahead of next year’s general election.

The draft’s publication triggered opposition protests in the national parliament, forcing the adjournment of upper-chamber hearings for the day.

In New Delhi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh sought to allay fears about the fate of those residents of Assam who might now be rendered stateless.

“No coercive action will be taken against anyone. Hence there is no need to panic,” Singh said in the upper house of parliament.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist government has said the list must be revised to root out “illegal migrants.”

Hundreds of thousands fled to India from Bangladesh during its 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. Most settled in Assam, which shares a long border with Bangladesh.

Rights groups have criticized the government’s latest move, saying the deletion of people from citizenship rolls was similar to Myanmar’s removal of rights and protections for its Rohingya community in 1982.

Bangladesh is currently at loggerheads with Myanmar over the mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims, who have fled a state-sponsored ethnic cleansing campaign at home.

Thousands of Rohingya refugees are also living in India, where they are suffering from dire humanitarian conditions amid constant deportation threats.

Avaaz, a US-based rights group, said Monday that there was no effective appeal body and those left out would not have enough time to present their case.

“It’s just Muslims who will likely have to go through a complicated, unfair appeal with no right to counsel, ending in no hope of staying if they lose,” Ricken Patel, the executive director of Avaaz, said in a statement.

Assam, a state of 33 million people known for its lush tea estates, has for decades been racked by violence between indigenous tribes and settlers.

In one of the worst massacres, around 2,000 suspected migrants were butchered in a single day in Nellie in 1983. Nearly all were Muslim, and many were children.