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Citizenship bill: Assam minister says protests unfounded
Citizenship bill; Assam Accord
News
- The Assam government has demanded an end to protests as the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 has not yet submitted its report
Important Facts
- The Assam government has not yet taken any stand on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which has been subjected to widespread protest in Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh
- Assam is presently updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Supreme Court has ordered the final list of NRC to be announced by June 30
- The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 seeks to grant citizenship to illegal migrants from Hindus, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh after six years of residence in India
- All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) has been opposing the bill, on the grounds that it would legitimize the claim of Chakma and Hajong refugees
- Chakmas are Buddhist and Hajongs are Hindu refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan (Bangladesh). They were displaced by the flooding of Kaptai Dam and religious persecution and had settled in Arunachal Pradesh in 1960s.
- Arunachal Pradesh is also home to Tibetan refugees who had come after 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet to India in 1959
- AAPSU argues that the Citizenship Bill would violate the purpose of Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873
