Another Muslim organization in the Supreme Court opposes granting citizenship to a minority in a neighboring country

New Delhi, June 10, 2021, Thursday

Following the Indian Muslim League, the Popular Front of India, another Muslim organization, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Centre's decision to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from three neighboring countries.

The Central Government has invited applications for granting Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and living in 13 districts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab. The government's decision has been challenged in the Supreme Court by the PFI, which has sought a stay on it.

The order was issued by the Union Home Ministry under the Citizenship Act of 1955 and the Act of 2009. However, the government has not yet drafted the rules of the Citizen Amendment Act, which came into force in 2019. The Citizenship Research Act, i.e. the CAA, provides for granting citizenship to minorities who have been persecuted in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and arrived in India by 31 December 2014.

The Home Ministry, meanwhile, said the decision to grant citizenship to non-Muslim nationals of the three countries residing in the above 13 districts meant that under a 1955 law, the central government had to register minorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh as Indian citizens and certify them as Indian citizens. .