No.2123/PBC/SEC/2019
December 16, 2019
Mr. Manan Kumar Mishra,
Chairman,
Bar Council of India,
58-Todarmal Road, 2nd Floor,
Behind Mandi House Metro Station,
Near Mother Dairy Milk Booth,
Bengali Market, New Delhi- 110001
Email: manankumarmishra@gmail.com
Dear Mr. Manan Kumar Mishra,
I hope this letter finds you in good health and spirits.
I am writing this letter to your goodself to convey the concerns and apprehensions of Members of the legal profession here in Pakistan, upon the very controversial and discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, recently passed by the Indian Parliament, expecting also at the same time that you will please impress upon the members of the Bar in India to play their due role for upholding the cause of protecting the constitutional fundamental and human rights of all the citizens of India including Muslims who are the second largest population of India.
You will please appreciate that we as members of Global legal fraternity, have a great responsibility to stand for the cause of human rights the world over and ensuring to take every possible endeavor for making the world a harmonious and peaceful place for the coming generations. You will please agree that in present days globalized world, any development in our region, based on religious discrimination aimed at to undermine the human rights of a particular segment of society on the basis of religion, shall entail serious consequences endangering the peace and stability of the region. The deliberate exclusion of Muslims from the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, has fundamentally changed the true spirit of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1955, besides being violative of Articles 14 & 15 of the Indian Constitution. Thus, adversely affecting the Muslims, amounts to breaching their basic human rights as to equal right of Citizenship. You will please also agree that it is not only against International Laws specially relating to human rights but also violative of various agreements between India and Pakistan, particularly the one concerning security and rights of minorities in the respective Countries.
As you know we all being members of the legal profession throughout the world, always raise our voice against any form of human rights abuses and for upholding the rule of law and Constitutionalism and so earnestly hope and expect that Members of the Indian Bar would come forward and play their due role to raise voice against the recent discriminatory legislation in the shape of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, targeting only the Muslims and to impress upon the party in power in India, to do away with the said Amendment in the larger interest of the cause of human rights and Constitutionalism. As this move of the Indian Ruling Party, is in continuation of its earlier most controversial and abusive action of annulling the special status of the Indian occupied Kashmir committing continued atrocities by the Government and its Parliamentary Forces upon Muslims in the valley, the same needs to be undone in the larger national interest of the India and its oft-repeated claim of being Secular state as per its Constitution.
It is, therefore, all the more imperative that Members of the Indian Bar should play their due role to pressurize upon the Indian Government to re-consider its controversial steps and undo the discriminate legislation of amending the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, which has become a cause of great sense of deprivation among the second largest population of the Country, for the sake of peace and tranquility of the region. The Bar Council of India may also consider the possibility of filing a Constitution Petition in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India against this controversial and unconstitutional legislation.
Profound Regards,
Yours Sincerely
Sd/-
(Syed Amjad Shah)
Vice-Chairman
Copy to Mr. Satish Abarao Deshmukh, Vice-Chairman, Bar Council of India, Shivaji Nagar, Taluk & Distt. Hingoli, Maharashtra- 431 513 (email: stish.adeshmukh@gmail.com) for information.
Sd/-
(Syed Amjad Shah)
Vice-Chairman
Copy to the Press for favor of publication