WASHINGTON: The head of a US government advisory board on Tuesday voiced concern over India’s drive to register citizens in the northeastern state of Assam, amid fears it could disenfranchise millions, most of them Muslims.
Tony Perkins — chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which issues recommendations to the government but does not make policy — said that religious pluralism was “a bedrock of Indian society.”
“However, we remain concerned with the potential abuse of the National Register of Citizens in Assam and the resulting introduction of a religious requirement for citizenship, which are contrary to the ideals of religious freedom in India,” he said in a statement.
India has given Assam residents until the end of the month to prove they, their parents or grandparents were in the state before 1971, when millions fled predominantly Muslim Bangladesh’s war of independence.
Home Minister Amit Shah, the right-hand man of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has called for the ejection of “termites” from India and, before their Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party’s election triumph this year, vowed to take the Assam-style campaign nationwide and “send back the infiltrators.”
In another move, India’s lower house of parliament passed legislation in January to grant citizenship to people who came from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan at least six years ago — but not if they are Muslim.
Perkins is president of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group close to President Donald Trump’s Republican Party that is known for its opposition to acceptance of homosexuality.
Joining his statement of concern was Anurima Bhargava, a member of the commission appointed by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
She said the commission was “troubled” by any actions that target minorities, saying that the registration “must not become a means to target and render stateless the Muslim community in northeastern India.”
The United States rarely criticizes India, an emerging ally, and has been guarded in statements on Modi’s recent stripping of autonomy for Kashmir, which had been the country’s only Muslim-majority state.
US body voices concern on India registry of Muslims
US body voices concern on India registry of Muslims
- Joining his statement of concern was Anurima Bhargava, a member of the commission appointed by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Putin must stop ‘unnecessary demands’ that prolong war, Zelensky tells EU
BRUSSELS: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow must stop making “unnecessary demands” that extend the war, calling for sanctions on Russia to remain in place until it begins pulling out of Ukrainian territory.
“Putin must stop making unnecessary demands that only prolong the war and must start fulfilling what he promises the world,” he told EU leaders by video call, according to an official transcript.
“Sanctions must remain in place until Russia starts withdrawing from our land and fully compensates for the damage caused by its aggression.”
UK PM Starmer: We must be ready to react quickly if Ukraine peace deal struck
- “(Our) plans are focusing on keeping the sky safe, the sea safe and the border safe and secure in Ukraine,” Starmer said
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday it was important Britain and its allies were able to react immediately should there be a peace deal struck between Russia and Ukraine.
His comments, made during a visit to a nuclear submarine facility, come on the day military chiefs from dozens of countries meet in Britain to discuss planning for a possible peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
“(Our) plans are focusing on keeping the sky safe, the sea safe and the border safe and secure in Ukraine, and working with the Ukrainians,” Starmer told reporters.
“We’re working at pace because we don’t know if there’ll be a deal. I certainly hope there will be, but if there’s a deal, it’s really important that we’re able to react straight away.”
Georgetown University scholar has been detained by immigration officials, prompting legal fight
- Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral scholar at Georgetown University, was accused of “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media”
- The deportation effort comes amid legal fights over cases involving a Columbia University international affairs graduate student and a doctor from Lebanon
VIRGINIA: A Georgetown University researcher has been detained by immigration officials, prompting another high-profile legal fight over deportation proceedings against foreign-born visa holders who live in the US
Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral scholar at Georgetown University, was accused of “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media” and determined to be deportable by the Secretary of State’s office, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said late Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The deportation effort comes amid legal fights over cases involving a Columbia University international affairs graduate student and a doctor from Lebanon.
Politico, which first reported on Suri’s case, said that masked agents arrested him outside his home in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday night and told him his visa had been revoked, citing a legal filing by his lawyer.
His lawyer didn’t immediately respond to an messages seeking further comment Thursday. An online court docket shows that an urgent motion seeking to halt the deportation proceedings was filed Tuesday against the Trump administration.
A Georgetown University webpage identifies Suri as a postdoctoral fellow at Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the university. The university said his areas of interest include religion, violence and peace processes in the Middle East and South Asia. The bio said that he earned a doctorate in India while studying efforts to introduce democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq, and he has traveled extensively in conflict zones in several countries.
The university said in a statement Thursday that Suri is an Indian national who was “duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
“We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention,” the school said. “We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”
The US Customs and Immigration Enforcement detainee locator website lists Suri as being in the custody of immigration officials at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana.
Separately, Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil, a legal US resident with no criminal record, was detained earlier this month over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and is fighting deportation efforts in federal court. And Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist who previously worked and lived in Rhode Island, was deported over the weekend despite having a US visa.
Ukraine, US teams ready to meet in Saudi Arabia in ‘coming days’: Zelensky
Kyiv, Ukraine: Officials from Ukraine and the United States could meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days for a second round of peace talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday.
“Ukrainian and American teams are ready to meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to continue coordinating steps toward peace,” Zelensky wrote on X.
One person dies as migrants aim to cross English Channel
- Both the British and French governments have made tackling migrants crossing the English Channel illegally a high priority
PARIS: One person has died after a boat carrying migrants trying to cross the English Channel from France got into difficulties overnight, said a local French authority on Thursday.
The French local authority responsible for the North Sea and English Channel regions said 15 people had been rescued and brought back to shore at the port of Gravelines, near Dunkirk.
Both the British and French governments have made tackling migrants crossing the English Channel illegally – often in perilous conditions as they travel in dinghies or small boats – a high priority.
Data in January showed Britain’s Labour government had removed 16,400 illegal migrants since coming to power last July, marking the highest rate of such removals since 2018, although Labour’s political opponents say the government needs to do more.
