Arunachal Pradesh sets up committee to safeguard indigenous people from CAB

The nine-member committee will be headed by Arunachal Pradesh Home Minister Bamang Felix. It will include five other legislators, the home commissioner, senior additional advocate general and secretary of general administration.

The Arunachal Pradesh government on Tuesday constituted a consultative committee to safeguard the rights of the indigenous people of the state in view of the NDA government’s decision to revive the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), Chief Minister Pema Khandu’s office said in a statement.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has said his government will protect the rights of indigenous people of the state in view of the NDA government’s decision to revive the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).(Twitter/Pema Khanu)

The nine-member committee will be headed by home minister Bamang Felix. It will include five other legislators, the home commissioner, senior additional advocate general and secretary of general administration.

The statement did not mention the time the committee will have to submit its recommendations.

On Saturday, Kahndu had said that the committee will bring together all community based organizations, civil society groups and student unions for consultation on CAB.

“It will conduct meetings with all stakeholders and take their inputs on adding safeguards to the proposed CAB so that protections given to the tribal people of the state under Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act, 1873 and Chin Hill Regulations Act, 1896 is not diluted,” Khandu had said while addressing a gathering at Yingkiong in the Upper Siang district.

He said the committee will also be responsible for interpreting the various provisions of CAB and to add clauses for protection of Arunachali people.

The committee’s recommendations would be submitted to the state government, which in turn would hand them over to the Centre to ensure that adequate safeguards are incorporated in CAB to protect the rights of indigenous people of Arunachal Pradesh.

The CAB, which proposes to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Christians and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014, lapsed earlier this year after the government failed to table it in the Rajya Sabha.

There’s fear in several northeastern states that if the citizenship law is amended, it would lead to large scale influx of illegal immigrants, which would in turn pose a threat to indigenous communities of the region.

Last month, during a meeting of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the anti-Congress regional front led by BJP, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured that CAB will not override any provisions that have for long protected the rights of the tribal people.

The CAB is expected to be would be tabled in Parliament during the winter session.