New Delhi: In an interview given to a national media, the eminent lawyer, Harish Salve said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is not anti-Muslim and do not violate Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Indian Constitution.
Harish Salve said that the communities mentioned in the CAA are the minorities of the three countries Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. The act is for the religiously persecuted minorities in these countries.
He said that the Act does not block other communities from being naturalized. General rules which are already in place still applies to all other communities seeking general asylum.
Salve added that CAA has religious persecution as the basis of the act and seeks to aid the religiously persecuted in the three countries. Then the Muslim community being the majority in the three countries cannot claim persecution under the CAA. Thus Muslims do feature in the act.
The Muslims can seek asylum and apply for citizenship under the existing rules and the CAA do not in any way interfere in this process.
When asked about Tamils in Sri Lanka, the lawyer said that Tamils were not persecuted for their religion. The Rohingyas of Myanmar are excluded because the country do not have a state religion like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Thus, the country do not come under the ambit of CAA.
Harish Salve is one of the most notable face when it comes to national and international law. He represented India on the Kulbhushan Jaddhav case against Pakistan when the case was taken up at the International Court of Justice in Hague. He had charged a token fee of Rs. 1 for his service in putting forward India’s argument at the Court.
