India lodges protest with Malaysia over Mahathir Mohamad's remarks on citizenship law

The Malaysian Charge d'Affaires was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday to lodge a solemn protest over the remarks made by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on "matters entirely internal to India," government sources told ANI.

"It was conveyed that such remarks are neither in keeping with the accepted diplomatic practice of non-interference in each other's internal affairs nor with the state of our bilateral relations," sources said.

"It was also conveyed that such remarks are both ill-informed and insensitive. Malaysia was asked to take a long-term and strategic view of the bilateral relations," they added.

Addressing the Islamic meet in Kuala Lumpur held to tackle issues related to Islamophobia on Friday, Prime Minister Mohamad told the forum that India's recently enacted Citizenship (Amendment) Act makes it easier for "persecuted" minorities from three neighbouring countries to get citizenship but not if they are Muslims.

"I am sorry to see that India, which claims to be a secular state, now is taking action to deprive some Muslims of their citizenship," said the 94-year-old leader.

"If we do that here, I do not know what will happen. There will be chaos and instability, and everybody will suffer," he added.

Mohamad questioned the "necessity" of the Citizenship Act when Indians have "lived together for 70 years", according to media reports.

Following his remarks, the MEA, on Friday, had stressed in a statement that the legislation is "a matter entirely internal to India" and does not impact the status of any citizen of the country.