US advisory body voices concern
The head of a US government advisory board on Tuesday voiced concern over India’s drive to register citizens in the northeastern state of Assam, amid fears it could disenfranchise millions, most of them Muslims.
Tony Perkins -- chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which issues recommendations to the government but does not make policy -- said that religious pluralism was “a bedrock of Indian society.”
“However, we remain concerned with the potential abuse of the National Register of Citizens in Assam and the resulting introduction of a religious requirement for citizenship, which are contrary to the ideals of religious freedom in India,” he said in a statement.
India has given Assam residents until the end of the month to prove they, their parents or grandparents were in the state before 1971, when millions fled predominantly Muslim Bangladesh’s war of independence.
Home Minister Amit Shah has called for the ejection of “termites” from India ahead of election triumph this year.
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