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India rejects Pak resolution on CAA, calls it 'thinly-veiled attempt' to peddle false narrative on Kashmir

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ANI General News

India on Tuesday categorically rejected a resolution adopted by the National Assembly of Pakistan against Indian Citizenship (Amendment) Act reiterating that the matter is an issue internal to the country and is "a thinly-veiled attempt" by the Islamic state to peddle its false narrative on Kashmir.

The External Affairs Ministry in a statement said: "The Resolution adopted by Pakistan's National Assembly yesterday (on Citizenship Amendment Act) makes references to matters that are entirely the internal affairs of India. We categorically reject the resolution."

"It's a thinly-veiled attempt by Pakistan to further its false narrative on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. It seeks to provide justification for Pakistan's unrelenting support for cross-border terrorist activities in India. We're confident that such attempts will fail," the statement read.

 

"The Resolution is a poorly disguised effort to divert attention from Pakistan's appalling treatment and persecution of its own religious minorities. The demographics of these minorities, whether Hindu, Christian, Sikh or other faiths, in Pakistan, speak for themselves," it added.

The National Assembly of Pakistan on Monday adopted a unanimous resolution condemning India's Citizenship (Amendment) Act, calling it to be "a discriminatory law" enacted to "suppress" the minorities in the country.

The resolution also stated that the controversial amendment is "against international norms of equality and non-discrimination and International Human Rights Law as it seeks to set up faith-based criteria for a group of citizenship."

The resolution also called upon the international community including the United Nations, Human Rights Council, and other relevant Human Rights organisations to urge India to revoke this "discriminatory Act and to protect and safeguard the rights of its minorities including Muslims."

However, this is not the first time when Pakistan has made a fool of itself by approaching the international community to step in India's "internal matter". The country had also previously irked the global bodies after New Delhi had revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5.

Meanwhile, the Resolution, according to the MEA, "intentionally mischaracterizes" the objectives of the CAA which promises citizenship rights to foreigners from selected countries who belong to persecuted religious minorities.

"It does not take away the citizenship of any Indian irrespective of her or his faith," the statement read.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed from Parliament earlier this week and became an Act with Presidential assent on November 12. The legislation provides Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

The external affairs ministry said that it was "laughable" that the National Assembly that has itself passed discriminatory legislation against religious minorities, should point fingers at others.

"We call upon Pakistan to engage in serious self-introspection rather than to falsely accuse others of what they themselves are guilty of," the statement added.

"Pakistan would do well to remember that India is the world's largest democracy, that all its Governments have been freely and fairly elected through the universal adult franchise, and that all Indians irrespective of faith enjoy equal rights under the Constitution. We urge Pakistan to similarly aspire to these ideals," it said.

Pakistan has repeatedly criticized India on the global platform for revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, instead of taking care of the vulnerable condition of the minorities who are facing the constant threat of persecution on its soil.

United Nations, as well as the international community, has regularly condemned the extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances of Balochs, Ahmadiyya, and other minority communities by the Pakistani establishment.

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First Published: Dec 17 2019 | 7:28 PM IST

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