India's new citizenship act its internal affair: FM Hasan

The new citizenship law of India is an internal affair of that country, Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said today.

"As Bangladesh is a neighbouring country, we are keeping an eye on the matter," he said when journalists wanted to know about Bangladesh's position regarding the law during a view exchange meeting in the city.

This week, India announced the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act, drawing sharp criticism from opposition parties and rights groups. The Citizenship Amendment Act was passed by India's Parliament in 2019, but was not enforced until now.

The Citizenship Amendment Act provides a fast track to naturalisation for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before 31 December 2014.

The law excludes Muslims, who are a majority in all three nations.

Responding to a question on US remarks regarding the Bangladesh election, FM Hasan said any office of the United States can give their opinion.

"They [US] said the opposition did not participate but out of 44 registered political parties in Bangladesh, 29 participated in the elections," he said, adding that non-participation of any particular political party is not the responsibility of the government.

"That party instead called to resist the election. For that purpose, they [its leaders] incited violence in the country and only those who were involved in that violence were arrested," Hasan said.

The United States has said that they are working to advance the partnership and relations with Bangladesh, he said.

"We are also working to make the relations with the United States closer and expand our multi-dimensional ties," he said.