India on Tuesday rejected a resolution adopted by Pakistan National Assembly on the Citizenship Amendment Act on Monday and said it is a poorly disguised effort to divert attention from Islamabad's “appalling treatment” and “persecution” of its religious minorities .
Strongly asserting this position, the Ministry of External Affairs in a statement said the resolution was a thinly-veiled attempt by Pakistan to further its false narrative on the issue of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
“It seeks to provide justification for Pakistan's unrelenting support for cross-border terrorist activities in India. We are confident that such attempts will fail,” it said.
Pakistan's Parliament on Monday unanimously passed a resolution terming India's citizenship amendment law against the bilateral agreements and asked New Delhi to revoke the “discriminatory” clauses in it.
The resolution — moved in Pakistan National Assembly by Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood — said the Citizenship Act was “against international norms of equality and non-discrimination and International Human Rights Law”.
The External Affairs Ministry statement said the Pakistani Resolution is a poorly disguised effort to divert attention from Pakistan's appalling treatment and persecution of its own religious minorities. The demographics of these minorities, whether Hindu, Christian, Sikh or other faiths, in Pakistan speak for themselves, it said.
The Resolution intentionally mischaracterizes the objectives of the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019. This Act gives citizenship to foreigners from selected countries who are persecuted religious minorities. It does not take away the citizenship of any Indian irrespective of her or his faith.
The statement further said it is laughable that the National Assembly of Pakistan that has itself passed discriminatory legislation against religious minorities, should point fingers at others. We call upon Pakistan to engage in serious self-introspection rather than to falsely accuse others of what they themselves are guilty of.
Pakistan would do well to remember that India is the world's largest democracy, that all its Governments have been freely and fairly elected through universal adult franchise, and that all Indians irrespective of faith enjoy equal rights under the Constitution. We urge Pakistan to similarly aspire to these ideals, the statement said.