Groups oppose move on Bangla minorities

notifications exempting Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals belonging to minority communities in those countries to stay in India without valid documents if they have entered the country on or before December 31, 2014.

The Union ministry of home affairs had stated in a release issued on Monday that the Centre has decided, on humanitarian considerations, to exempt such persons from the relevant provisions of rules and order made under Assam PCC general secretary Diganta Choudhury also welcomed the move, saying, “We were demanding it for a long time. We are one people if you look at our shared history.”

However, Bidhayak Das Purkayastha, secretary, Citizens Rights Preservation Committee (CRPC), Assam, dubbed it “an eyewash” by the Centre because the notifications do not guarantee citizenship to the religious minorities.

Elaborating, Hafiz Rashid Ahmed Choudhury, a prominent minority leader, said the notifications would not stand the scrutiny of law.

“These are executive orders which cannot override provisions of the laws of the land,” Choudhury, who heads the Samajwadi Party in Assam, said.

Choudhury, also a senior CRPC leader, said the demand was to provide citizenship to people who have come from Bangladesh because of religious persecution and in fear for their life.

“Instead, they have been allowed to stay on. But will the court agree? The court will see that if there is a law it has to be implemented,” he said.