Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today questioned the new citizenship law introduced in India which is said to discriminate against Muslims in the republic.
He questioned the necessity of the amendment to the citizenship law which he said led to the killing of people when they had lived together in the past without any problem.
Mahathir even went to the extent of comparing how Malaysia granted citizenship to Indian migrants to the Citizenship Amendment Act in India which came into force on Dec 11.
"I think we have accepted the Indians and Chinese who came to this country. We gave them citizenship even when they didn’t qualify and they are all in the government," he told media at the sidelines of the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 today.
"But I am sorry to see that India, which claims to be a secular state, is now taking action to deprive some Muslims of their citizenship," he said.
"Of course, if we do that here, you know what will happen. There will be chaos, there will be instability and everyone will suffer," he said.
On Dec 11, India's parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Act which, for the first time, makes religion a criterion for nationality under the republic's citizenship laws.
The law creates an expedited path to Indian citizenship for migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan whose religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism.
Islam is not listed as a criterion under the amendment to the act.
Meanwhile, Mahathir also said the KL Summit 2019 - which is being held from Dec 18 to Dec 21 - will not make a stand on the issues of the Uyghur forced internment camps in Xinjiang, China or the Yemen war.
"This meeting isn’t about politics and religion. It’s about developing Muslim countries," he said.
[More to follow] - Mkini
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