Former president of the Maldives and the Speaker of People’s Majilisi Mohamed Nasheed, who recently lead a parliamentary delegation to India, termed the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) as an India's internal matter and said he believes whatever that comes out from the process would be what the vast majority in India would agree upon.
Mohamed Nasheed was in Capital New Delhi at the joint invitation of Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Speaking to an Indian media outlet, Nasheed said that he was in Parliament during the passage of the CAB and he trusts the Indian democracy, its processes and systems.
To a question of the ramifications the CAB could have on other regional neighbours such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and if the bill was discriminatory in defining "minority persecution", Mohamed Nasheed said: "I don't think it is a foreign policy matter in that sense. Religious persecution is wrong. India, I believe, will always give refuge to anyone who is persecuted... These were founding ideas of India, secular idea, respecting minorities. It is very difficult for me to comment on the India, Pakistan, Bangladesh issue” said India Today.
According to the amended Citizenship Act members of the Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities, who have come from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh till December 31, 2014, and were facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants and granted Indian citizenship.
