NEW DELHI: Ahmed Toweb says his life has taken a turn for the worse since Aug. 31 last year, when his name was left off the National Register of Citizens (NRC), a 7-year-old program to identify “genuine” citizens in India’s eastern state of Assam.
“I’ve faced rejection in three marriage proposals in the last six months. Only my name has been excluded in my family of nine. How is it possible that my parents and other siblings are Indians and I am a foreigner?” Toweb, 28, a social and political activist from Barpara village in the Bongaigaon district of Assam, told Arab News.
“The entire list is faulty and not prepared properly,” he added.
Assam became the first state in India to file a citizenship list last year when it published the NRC, which excluded about 1.9 million people.
The NRC is a by-product of violent civil strife in Assam in the 1980s, when students and political activists led a popular movement to identify illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
To end the agitation, New Delhi signed the Assam Accord with students and the local government in 1985. It ordered a new list of citizens and resulted in a decree that people who entered the state after March 25, 1971, would be declared foreigners.
However, following the accord, no real progress was delivered.
In 2013, the Supreme Court expedited the process and fixed a time frame to complete the NRC process, before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014 and claimed credit for the list.
With the advent of the BJP government in Assam in 2016, there were allegations that the party was using the NRC to target Bengali-speaking Muslims and consolidate its core vote bloc among Bengali-speaking Hindus.
To save its core Hindu constituency, the BJP brought in the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a law that allows citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Buddhists from neighboring Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, but excludes Muslims.
For Ahmed Toweb, the debacle has caused concern about the future, especially if his appeal to be included in the NRC is rejected.
“I was very active when the NRC was being prepared, helping others to fill up forms and collect the right documents. Muslims thought the NRC would take off the stigma of being called illegal Bangladeshis, but we failed to understand the designs of the government,” he said, adding that Hindus now have the “advantage of the CAA, but we are left to our own fate.”
Those not listed on the NRC are sent a rejection letter by the government, after which they can appeal to the Foreign Tribunal, a quasi-judicial body, and submit documents to “prove their citizenship.”
“It’s more than a year, and the reason for our non-inclusion has not been explained. As a result, we are in limbo,” Toweb said.
Fatema Begum from Bongaigaon district agreed and said she faces the same dilemma. Her husband is in the NRC, but she is not.
“What will happen to my married life and family if I am declared stateless? Already I am facing a problem. I can’t get a ration from the government shop because my name is not in the NRC,” Begum, 29, told Arab News.
Bongaigaon-based social activist, Rubul Iftikar, said Begum is not alone and that “the situation is so grim, that in his district, two married women have gone insane because their husbands left them after their name was not in the NRC.
“Some young girls who are not in the NRC list are not finding a groom. It’s a desperate situation where Muslims are not at all hopeful that the system would give them justice after the introduction of the CAA,” Iftikar told Arab News.
Experts said there are other motivations behind the NRC.
“The most enduring belief is that the NRC has an inherent bias against Muslims,” Assam-based lawyer A Sabur Tapader told Arab News.
Last year, after the release of the NRC, the BJP rejected the list and called for a review following reports that more than 60 percent of the 1.9 million left out were Hindus.
“The NRC is a political tool for the ruling BJP, and they want to woo the Bengali Hindu voters again by saying that they are fighting for them in court,” he added.
Now there are reports that the BJP is moving the Supreme Court to review the NRC again.
In the meantime, the process has left Bengali Hindus feeling confused, too, with some saying they have become a “political pendulum.”
“It’s difficult to trust the government. Assam will never accept the CAA because of its history. The government just wants to keep the issue alive and keep people fighting in the name of religion,” said Biplab Das of Sonipat district in Assam.
Das’ name is in the list, but his children are not included in the NRC.
Tapader said that with Assam elections scheduled for early next year, the government is reaching out to the Supreme Court to seek a reprieve.
“They have not yet framed the rules of the CAA, and it takes time to implement it. So people now understand the hidden motive of the BJP,” he said.
Delhi-based political analyst Jayanta Kalita said the BJP has an “ulterior motive” in implementing the NRC.
“The BJP had an ulterior motive when it talked about the NRC before 2014. It was not at all concerned about the grave threat posed by the influx of migrants from Bangladesh to Assam’s ethnic demography. Assam made a mistake by trusting the BJP. It showed its true communal colors by passing the CAA that is intended to benefit Hindu migrants,” Kalita told Arab News.
“Assam can’t be allowed to become a dumping ground for illegal immigrants,” he added.
State of despair: Millions left off Assam citizen list
https://arab.news/2v6sa
State of despair: Millions left off Assam citizen list
- Assam became the first state in India to file a citizenship list last year when it published the NRC
- “Two married women have gone insane because their husbands left them after their name was not in the NRC,” an activist said
Russia jails lawyer for 7 years for criticizing Ukraine campaign
Safronov is now serving a 22-year sentence on treason charges
MOSCOW: Russia on Thursday sentenced a senior lawyer who had defended a jailed journalist in a high-profile case to seven years in prison for denouncing Moscow’s Ukraine offensive on social media.
Dmitry Talantov, 63, was arrested in July 2022 after describing the acts of the Russian army in the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Bucha as being reminiscent of “Nazi practices.”
Talantov was for many years president of the Udmurtia lawyer association and in 2021 was the defense lawyer for Ivan Safronov, a journalist covering military affairs whose arrest shook Russia’s media community.
Safronov is now serving a 22-year sentence on treason charges.
A court in the Udmurt Republic found Talantov guilty of actions aimed at spreading hatred and of knowingly distributing “fake” information on the Russian army — charges made possible with a censorship law adopted shortly after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine.
In an emotional speech in court, Talantov said he feared he would not survive the prison term, but also stood by his convictions.
“I am 64 and it is hard for me to imagine that I will come out of prison alive,” Talantov said, according to an audio of the speech published by rights group Perviy Otdel.
Talantov has been in pre-trial detention for two and a half years and has spent two years in an isolation cell, saying the Russian national anthem blasts out there in the evening and at dawn, before a staunchly pro-Kremlin radio show is played.
“I am waiting for words of peace. They do not come,” he said.
He described his conditions as a “Middle-Ages cell with only a (toilet) hole and a tap,” saying “time kills a person” in isolation.
His voice breaking, he addressed his wife saying: “Olga, forgive me, I love you.”
According to a letter he sent to Perviy Otdel, Talantov was arrested while at his summer home in the summer of 2022.
More than 300 lawyers had signed a petition calling for his release at the time.
Germany offers re-deployment of Patriot air defense units to Poland
- The units could be deployed for up to six months, the ministry said
- From January to November 2022, Germany had already deployed 300 troops
BERLIN: Germany has offered to re-deploy Patriot air defense systems to NATO ally Poland at the start of the new year, the German defense ministry said on Thursday.
The units could be deployed for up to six months, the ministry said in a statement.
“With this we will protect a logistical hub in Poland which is of central importance for the delivery of materials to Ukraine,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said.
From January to November 2022, Germany had already deployed 300 troops together with three Patriot units to Poland.
They were based in the town Zamosc, about 50 km (31 miles) from the Ukrainian border, to protect the southern town and its crucial railway link to Ukraine.
The deployment was triggered by a stray Ukrainian missile that struck the Polish village of Przewodow in November 2022, in an incident that raised fears of the war in Ukraine spilling over the border.
Putin says Russia would use all weapons at its disposal against Ukraine if Kyiv gets nuclear weapons
Putin says Russia would use all weapons at its disposal against Ukraine if Kyiv gets nuclear weapons
- Putin said it was practically impossible for Ukraine to produce a nuclear weapon
ASTANA: President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia would head off any attempt by Ukraine to acquire nuclear weapons and would use all weapons at its disposal against Ukraine if such a scenario unfolded.
The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.
Putin, speaking in Astana, Kazakhstan, said it was practically impossible for Ukraine to produce a nuclear weapon, but that it might be able to make some kind of “dirty bomb.”
One year on, daily ‘stop genocide’ protests target Israel’s embassy in Korea
- South Korea observes significant growth in the Palestine solidarity movement— Embassy protests held by members of over 200 Korean civil society organizations
SEOUL: Across from the Israeli embassy in Seoul, Lee Hyun-ah was holding a big red banner, as she stood in a lone daily protest calling for an end to Israel’s onslaught, massacres, and occupation of Palestine.
The banner, with writing in Korean, Arabic, and bold English letters reading “Stop Genocide Against Palestinians,” has appeared in front of the embassy every workday since November last year, when UN experts and international rights groups began warning that Israel’s mass killings in the Gaza Strip were unfolding into a genocidal campaign.
The one-person protests have been organized by Urgent Action by Korean Civil Society in Solidarity with Palestine — also known as People in Solidarity with Palestinians — a coalition of 226 South Korean civil society organizations whose members have been volunteering to rally on specific days.
Lee, a 20-year-old student in Seoul, was taking part for the first time.
“I finally found the courage and decided to participate,” she told Arab News, recalling how she began to learn about the decades of Israeli occupation of Palestine only last year.
“I was appalled. There are fundamental virtues, ethics, and values in this world. I cannot believe one group can just attack, invade, and commit genocide. I felt compelled to act.”
Lee’s protest on Monday was the 267th lone demonstration held by Urgent Action in front of the Seoul embassy.
The coalition was established in October 2023, soon after Israel launched its war on Gaza, in which its military has since killed over 44,000 people and injured more than 100,000. The real death toll is believed to be much higher, with estimates by medical journal The Lancet indicating that, as of July, it could be more than 186,000.
The Korean civil society coalition, which includes BDS Korea — a group affiliated with the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement — has also been organizing mass protests, film screenings, and boycott campaigns tailored specifically for South Korea.
Their efforts to raise awareness are bearing fruit, as the number of people joining is rapidly increasing. From just a handful of activists, the movement has grown significantly, with over 2,000 people participating in its Palestine solidarity rally last month.
“Our group was very small. It was about five to seven people working together. There were limitations on what we could do because it was so small,” BDS Korea leader Deng Ya-ping told Arab News.
“Before October 2023, there were very few organizations in South Korea that were acting in solidarity with Palestine ... But after forming People in Solidarity with Palestinians, more civic groups joined, and individuals unrelated to any organization have started participating as well.”
The group is advocating for a change in the South Korean government’s stance on Israel’s occupation and demanding that it stop Korean companies from selling weapons to the Israeli military.
“In July, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must halt its military occupation and that all nations have a responsibility to make Israel comply. So, the Korean government is also responsible ... the most obvious way to do that is to ban arms trade. That is the biggest request we have toward the Korean government,” Deng said.
“Other than that, Korea is a part of the UN Security Council. Korea voted in favor of the resolution that the US vetoed, which called for an end to the genocide and a ceasefire. Therefore, Korea should act accordingly, pressuring Israel to stop.”
The sentiment that the South Korean government is not doing enough is common among those joining Seoul protests — as is their resolve to persist, even when the embassy staff try to stop them.
While the embassy denies the claims, one of the protesters, Lee S., who has been involved in the Palestine solidarity movement since 2016, recalled its attempts to harass them.
“Sometimes embassy workers would come out during our protests to complain or try to provoke physical confrontations. But we never got into the fights. And they would systematically tear down our posters,” Lee said.
“But the South Korean civil society will continue to speak out loudly until the genocide in Gaza ends. We will not stay silent.”
Presidential aide says Ukraine ready to host second peace summit soon
- Ukraine held its first “peace summit” in Switzerland in June
- “Thanks to active work with our partners, a joint peace framework has already been developed,” Yermak said
KYIV: Ukraine is ready to host a second global summit aimed at ending Russia’s invasion in the “nearest future,” the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Thursday, local media outlets reported.
Ukraine held its first “peace summit” in Switzerland in June, bringing together over 90 countries to draft a resolution based on Ukraine’s proposed conditions to end the war.
However, Russia was not invited to that summit and dismissed its deliberations as meaningless without Moscow’s participation. It has also said it would not take part in any follow-up summit organized by Ukraine.
“Thanks to active work with our partners, a joint peace framework has already been developed, which will become the basis for the Second Peace Summit, and Ukraine is ready to hold it in the near future,” Yermak told a conference, according to Ukrainian media.
China also stayed away from the June summit, while other major non-Western powers including India, Saudi Arabia and Mexico withheld their signatures from the summit communique, underlining the diplomatic challenge Kyiv faces in marshalling broader global support for its cause beyond its Western allies.
Yermak’s comments came as Russian forces continue to make steady territorial gains in eastern Ukraine while also pounding energy infrastructure in Ukrainian cities and towns.
Kyiv and its European allies are also waiting to see how US President-elect Donald Trump will handle the Ukraine issue. He has criticized the scale of US financial and military support for Ukraine and has said he could end the war in a day, without saying how.
