Hyderabad: All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi urged BJP-ruled Centre to make the law of granting citizenship to minorities of Afghanistan “religion neutral”.
His demand comes after a recent notification of the MHA empowering two more Gujarat district collectors to grant citizenship certificates to six minorities of Afghanistan – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians. Though not linked to CAA, citizenship will be granted under Section 16 of the Citizenship Act 1955.
Owaisi is among several petitioners, who have challenged the validity of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, which offers fast-tracked citizenship to minority communities who entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh before 2015.
Owaisi observed that the granting of citizenship is “already happening” in India. He is quoted to have said, “You (government) first give the long-term VISA and then they (minority communities of Afghanistan) get citizenship.”
