Include Shia Muslims fleeing persecution in Sunni-dominated Muslim countries in the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, urged Shia Central Waqf Board chairman Waseem Rizvi on Monday.
In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Mr. Rizvi said Shias were subjected to “inhuman acts” in Sunni-dominated countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, where Shias are a minority.
“They are being killed for being Shia,” Mr. Rizvi stated.
The contentious Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, by seeking to grant citizenship to undocumented and illegal non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
Mr. Rizvi argued that since Shias were a “rare section” of Muslim society and were being oppressed by the Sunni majority, they should be protected from the “persecution and excesses.”
On the Shia-Sunni religious divide, he said that after the death of the Prophet Mohammad, Khalifas with “fundamentalist thinking” seized Islam from the ordinary believers.
“Shia community has been persecuted continuously for nearly 1,400 years by Muslim majoritarian Sunni society and continue to be,” he wrote.
Issuing a video statement later, Mr. Rizvi praised the CAB and said it was an example of ‘Hindustani insaniyat’ (Indian humanity).
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