LAHORE: The Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission, an advisory body of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), said on Friday it condemned India’s new domicile laws-- calling them “draconian” and a “violation” of international and humanitarian laws.
On Wednesday, Delhi announced new controversial rules for Indian citizens residing in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. The rules have come eight months after the territory’s special legal status was abrogated by the Indian parliament amid international uproar. As part of the new laws, any Indian citizen who has lived in the Indian-administered territory for 15 years can call Jammu & Kashmir their place of domicile or permanent residency.
In a series of Twitter posts, the rights body said it condemned the promulgation of the reorganization law by India, and called it “an attempt to alter demographic and geographic status” of the territory.
India must put an end to human rights abuses and let Kashmiris exercise their right to self determination, the OIC body said, and criticized the act for being draconian and violating international human rights laws, including those of the Geneva convention, the OIC and the United Nations.
Pakistan has consistently called on India to end its strict communication blockade in the valley and to ensure essential supplies can reach Kashmiris during a rising covid-19 outbreak in the region.
Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan strongly condemned the new Indian domicile law as illegal and said the timing of the act amid the pandemic was reprehensible.
OIC rights body condemns India’s new Kashmir domicile law
https://arab.news/gsmv9
OIC rights body condemns India’s new Kashmir domicile law
- New rules allow Indian citizens to become permanent residents in Indian-administered Kashmir
- Says India must let Kashmiris exercise right to self-determination
UK interior minister insists asylum reforms ‘fair’ amid blowback
- Mahmood argued in a speech that she was “restoring order and control” to Britain’s borders
- Amnesty International called the latest measure a “punitive blow”
LONDON: Britain’s interior minister doubled down Thursday on her tough stance on immigration despite criticism from charities and unease within the ruling Labour party that it is shedding left-wing voters.
Shabana Mahmood announced that asylum seekers who break the law or work illegally will be thrown out of government-funded accommodation and lose their support payments.
The policy forms part of a major overhaul of migration rules announced late last year and modelled on Denmark’s strict asylum system that aims to slash irregular migration to the UK.
Mahmood argued in a speech that she was “restoring order and control” to Britain’s borders and that her overhaul of the asylum was “firm but fair,” adding she would open new and safe legal routes.
But Amnesty International called the latest measure a “punitive blow” that “risks forcing people into destitution, homelessness and exploitation while they wait for their claims to be decided.”
Mahmood’s reforms are widely seen as an attempt to stem support for the hard-right Reform UK party, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage.
It has topped opinion polls for a year, in part because of the government’s failure to stop thousands of migrants from arriving in England from northern France on small boats.
But her stance has also been credited with contributing to Labour losing support to the progressive Green party, which won a local election in a traditional Labour heartland last week.
Mahmood said there was a middle path between Farage’s “nightmare pulling up the drawbridge and shutting out the world” and Green Party leader Zack Polanski’s “fairy tale of open borders.”
Her reform that makes refugee status temporary, including for accompanied children, came into force this week.
The status will be reviewed every 30 months, with refugees forced to return to their home countries once those are deemed safe.
They will also need to wait for 20 years, instead of the current five, before they can apply for permanent residency.
She also announced earlier this week that the government would stop issuing education visas to nationals from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan.
It said there had been a surge in asylum applications by students from those countries and almost 135,000 asylum seekers in total had entered the UK using legal routes since 2021.
