India to publish a controversial citizenship list that advocates say will help rectify decades of unchecked illegal immigration into the northeastern state of Assam from Bangladesh.
In this Aug. 28, 2019, photo, Halimun Nessa, 32, stands with her children and displays a photograph of her husband Rahim Ali, who committed suicide the day before his children were to appear in front of a National Register of Citizens tribunal, in Barpeta, in India's northeastern state of Assam. Nessa said that her husband was worried their children would be excluded from a government citizenship list. India on Saturday, Aug.
Critics of the government’s plan to publish a National Register of Citizens, or NRC, fear it will leave off millions of people, rendering them stateless. And the Hindu nationalist-led government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which fully backs the citizenship project in Assam, vows to roll out a similar plan nationwide.
Those excluded are presumed to be foreigners unless they can prove otherwise at one of hundreds of tribunals presided over by people who are not judges. They have 120 days to file appeals with the tribunals and can take their case to higher courts. If no appeal is filed, a district magistrate makes a referral to the tribunal to strip them of their citizenship.
While advocates insist there is no religious dimension, Assamese historians revel in the ancient kingdom’s repulsion of the Muslim Mughal “invaders.” “I am very shocked that I served 30 years to the nation, now I am a beggar for citizenship,” said army veteran Mohammad Sanaullah, who lives in Gauhati.
Supporters of the registry, however, say the comparison of Kashmir and Assam is superficial and wrong.
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