Pakistan slams India’s ‘controversial’ citizenship law

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday registered a strong protest against India’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was originally passed in 2019 to allow non-Muslim people from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan to seek Indian citizenship to protect them against persecution.

“The regulation and laws are premised on a false assumption that minorities are being persecuted in Muslim countries of the region and to provide India a façade of being a safe haven for them,” Pakistan’s state-owned Radio Pakistan quoted foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch as saying during her weekly media briefing.

She maintained the rising wave of Hindutva, a 20th century ideology seeking to establish the hegemony of the Hindu way of life in India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government had led to political, economic and social victimization of Muslims and other minorities.

Baloch recalled the international community had taken notice of these developments only a few days ago, asking New Delhi to take corrective actions to protect human rights and prevent attacks against minorities in the lead-up to India’s national elections.

The spokesperson strongly condemned the Indian decision to declare illegal Kashmir National Front in illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. With this, a total of nine Kashmiri political parties have been outlawed in IIOJK.

these oppressive measures reflect a vicious intent by India to stifle dissent and freedom of expression in IIOJK in complete disregard of international laws.  She said India should immediately lift curbs on the banned Kashmiri political parties, release all political prisoners and forthwith implement the UNSC resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir.