Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Saturday announced to constitute a consultative committee, to safeguard the rights of the indigenous people of the state, following the Central government’s proposal, for enactment of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
Joining the BJP’s Sankalp Yatra at Yingkiong in Upper Siang district to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Khandu said the committee will bring together all the community-based organisations (CBO), civil societies and the students union of the state, for consultation on CAB.
Khandu said the committee will take inputs from the civil society organisations on adding ‘safeguards’ to the proposed CAB, so that the protection can be given to the tribal people of Arunachal under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1873 and Chin Hill Regulations Act, 1896 is not diluted.
The committee will also be responsible for interpreting the various provisions of the CAB and to add clauses for the protection of people of Arunachal, an official statement quoted the CM as saying.
He further said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during the recent NEDA meeting at Guwahati, had assured that CAB will not override any provisions that have for long, protected the rights of tribal people of the Northeast.
The chief minister also informed that the state government had earlier requested the CAB, expressing its objection that the bill should not be tabled in Parliament, without adequately addressing the concerns of the indigenous people of the state.
The bill seeks to give Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
