India's NRC will trigger regional instability: BNP

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Bangla Tribune Report
Published : 19:07, Dec 22, 2019 | Updated : 19:11, Dec 22, 2019

The BNP has expressed concerns over India's National Register for Citizens (NRC) and the new citizenship law saying that it would create instability in the South Asian region.
It says that the common belief is that the NRC and the new law target the minority Muslims of the country.
During a media call at the party chief's Gulshan offices, the BNP said that demonstrations across India against the disputed new law will gradually instable the whole region.
At least 23 people have died in India during clashes with police as thousands of people came out on the streets in towns and cities across the country to protest new citizenship law, according to media reports.
More than 1,500 protesters have been arrested across India in the past 10 days, officials said, as police try to quell sometimes violent demonstrations against a citizenship law that critics say undermines the country's secular constitution.
Additionally, some 4,000 people have been detained and then released, said officials.
Speaking at the media call, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islma Alamgir slammed Indian Home Minister and ruling BJP President Amit Shah for his recent remarks on minorities being persecuted in Bangladesh during BNP regimes.
"We outright reject his statement," he said before adding: "The incumbent Indian government is more interested to boost ties to the genuflected Awami League government rather than the people of Bangladesh to benefit politically."
Following days of violent protests, Indain Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday defended the new citizenship law, which critics say discriminates against Muslims.
"The law does not impact 1.3 billions Indians, and I must assure Muslim citizens of India that this law will not change anything for them," said Modi, adding that his government introduces reforms without any religious bias.
The Indian government has been saying that the new law is required to help non-Muslim minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who fled to India before 2015 by providing them with a pathway to Indian citizenship.
But many Indians feel that it discriminates against Muslims and violates the country's secular constitution by making religion a test for citizenship.
Alarmed by spreading protests and the rising violence, authorities have order a shut down of internet and mobile messaging services in capital Delhi, shut metro stations and cancelled permissions for large demonstrations.

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