Assam citizenship issue: Jamiat delegation meets NSA Ajit Doval and Home Secretary

New Delhi, 14 Jun 2018 [Fik/News Sources]: With the deadline for the final list of National Registration of Assam (NRC) is closing by June 30, the people of Assam are under severe strain as all kinds of rumors are getting around in the air about future of their citizenship rights.

In the meantime, the State Coordinator of NRC has issued a fresh guideline stating that the relatives of citizens who are D-voters or declared foreigners will also come under D-category and their case will be reviewed afresh though they have passed the test earlier. Besides that, many valid documents like Panchayat link certificate, Private School certificate and even the certified copies of the voter lists are being denied as the valid proof of citizenship.

With that in view, A delegation of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JUH) led by Maulana Qari Mohammad Usman Mansurpuri, President Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind met with on Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser, and Home Secretary to discuss this critical issue.

The delegation consisted of Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, President Jamiat at Assam State and Member of Parliament, Maulana Nizam Farooqui, Hafiz Bashir MLA, General Secretary Assam State Jamia, Advocate Shakeel Ahmad Sayed, Maulana Abdul Qadir Assam, Advocate Ameenul Islam, Advocate N.H. Mazhar Bhuiya, Ameenul Islam, MLA from Assam, and Maulana Manzar Bilal Qasmi.

The delegation also submitted a memorandum to the NSA which contains 22 points defying the fresh orders of the State Coordinator of NRC. The Jamiat’s press statement reads, “Questions have been raised about re-checking the citizenship status of those bonafide Assamese citizens who is doubted only for having a FD or D-Voters as their relatives.”

The delegation expressed deep concern about how a bonafide citizen could be denied citizenship only on the ground that he/she has a foreign relative. “It is to be noted that there are already one lakh forty-one thousand nine hundred sixty-five D-voters and fifty-three thousand DF. In view of this, there is a deep concern that if foreign relative criteria are adopted, then more than one million persons will suffer,” said Jamiat’s statement.

The delegation conveyed to Ajit Doval that “how several lakh genuine Assamese Citizen continue to face severe harassment in the name of furnishing genuine proof of identity.” “Despite the categorical ruling of the Supreme Court, Panchayat link certificate is not being recognized as the valid proof of citizenship. Likewise, the certificate issued by Mukhya, delayed birth certificate, genuine voter’s lists are also not getting recognized as the valid proof of citizenship only at the pretext that their records are not maintained in the relevant departments,” said the press statement.

The statement further noted, “As it is the prime responsibility of the concerned department to keep the record and tribal population of Assam could not be held responsible if these records are missing. The citizen of Assam continues to remain under fear unsafe. They have a dominant feeling that the government of the day is not interested in transparency rather it is more interested in declaring its own citizen as the foreigner.”