Card. Gracias says religion
should not be criterion for citizenship
 |
| A protest rally against the Citizen Amendment Act in Chennai, India, on Dec. 28, 2019. |
Since December 9, protests and violence have erupted across
India against a recent law which allows non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Afghanistan who settled in India prior to 2015 to obtain Indian
citizenship.
By Vatican News
“Religion should never be the criterion for citizenship of a
country. Nor is violence a solution when there is a difference of
opinion.” Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop Bombay, made the statement
on Friday regarding the controversy and protests roiling India over the
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Since December 9, protests and violence have erupted across
India against the law which allows non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Afghanistan who settled in India prior to 2015 to obtain Indian
citizenship.
Muslims make up some 14% of India's population.
Critics say the exclusion of Muslims is discriminatory and that the award
of citizenship based on religion is an attack on the secular constitution.
“The ongoing controversy and demonstrations and
counter-demonstrations concerning the Citizenship Amendment Act is a cause of
great anxiety for all citizens and could harm the country,” Cardinal Gracias,
the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), wrote in a
December 27 press statement posted on the archdiocesan website.
“There is a danger,” he warned, “that there could be a
polarization of our peoples along religious lines, which is very harmful for
the country.”
Many Muslim students, non-Hindu groups and Hindu intellectuals
took to the streets to protest the controversial legislation. Some
Catholic leaders joined them and have been detained as a result.
At least 25 people have been killed and thousands have been
injured in protests across the country since the law was adopted on Dec.
11.
Cardinal Gracias suggested the government dialogue with
“those opposing the Act, and come to an agreement about the way forward with
justice, equity and fairness”. “There is no harm in backtracking,
changing course if this is necessary for the good of the country and our
people.”
“The time of Christmas is a time for peace, justice and
unity,” he said, adding that these values, “which Our Lord brought to humankind
in Bethlehem should be paramount in our hearts and minds at this time.”
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét