India objects to Malaysian Prime Minister's remarks on CAA

India has strongly objected to remarks of the Malaysian Prime Minister over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). India's Ministry of External Affairs has called his statement “inaccurate” and asked not to comment on the internal issues of India. Malaysian Prime Minister, in the past too, had spoken against the decision of the Indian government. He supported Pakistan at the United Nation's General Assembly this year and questioned the revocation of Kashmir's special status.

'Factually inaccurate comment'

Objecting to the remarks of Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, India has said the CAA does not affect the status of citizens living in India. In a statement, India's Ministry of External Affairs said the Malaysian Prime Minister did not understand the facts of the matter. “The Prime Minister of Malaysia’s comment is factually inaccurate. We call upon Malaysia to refrain from commenting on internal developments in India, especially without a right understanding of the facts,” read the statement.

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The Indian government said that the Citizenship Amendment Act was to not strip off people's rights but to “fast track” the process of citizenship for “persecuted minorities”. “According to media reports, the Prime Minister of Malaysia has yet again remarked on a matter that is entirely internal to India. The Citizenship Amendment Act provides for citizenship through naturalization to be fast-tracked for non-citizens who are persecuted minorities from three countries. The Act does not impact in any manner on the status of any citizen of India, or deprive any Indian of any faith of her or his citizenship,” said the MEA.

Dr Mohamad on CAA

Addressing a summit in Kuala Lumpur Dr. Mohamad had raised concerns over the CAA. He said, “I am sorry to see that India, which claims to be a secular state, is now taking action to deprive some Muslims of their citizenship”. Adding that new Act has caused deaths across the country, he questioned its necessity. “Already people are dying because of this law, so why is there a necessity to do this when all this while, for 70 years almost, they have lived together as citizens without any problems,” said the PM.

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Citing an example from his own country the Malaysian Prime Minister said that the law should not discriminate and that Malaysia had granted citizenship to both Chinese and Indians living there. He said a CAA like India would create “chaos” in Malaysia.

“If we do that here, you know what will happen. There will be chaos, there will be instability and everyone will suffer," said Dr Mohamad. However, this is not the first time that the Malaysian PM has spoken against the decision taken by the Indian government. In the United Nations, he had accused India of “invading and occupying Kashmir” which attracted sharp criticism from India.

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