Please consider this an SOS Call from Indian Activists
Please forward to whoever you think would be willing to raise our concerns.
This statement is to bring your urgent attention to the horrific events that have been unfolding in New Delhi over the past three days.
Since the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed in the Indian Parliament on December 11, 2019, millions of concerned citizens have been holding peaceful protests all across the country against this unconstitutional act.
These protests are against the divisive and dangerous design of the CAA.
As per CAA, all Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December, 2014 without any valid travel documents such as passport, will be granted citizenship by naturalization on applying for the same.It explicitly leaves out Muslims from its list of possible refugees eligible for citizenship under the revised eligibility conditions.
There have been several statements by the ruling political party Bhartiya Janta Party,that the CAA is for persecuted minorities, however the Act doesn’t use the word persecuted. Further, it has been announced that a National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be prepared all across the country to identify 'doubtful citizens'. Anyone who is unable to present legacy papers risks being labelled a doubtful citizen and shorn of their rights and liberties.
Following are some links that will shed light on the laws being passed and how they affect millions of people:
Unpacking the Citizenship Amendment Act
Flow chart from the Indian website The Wire
Explained: The Nuts and Bolts of Indian Citizenship
Explained: What NRC+CAA means to you
CAA-NPR-NRC – The Bermuda Triangle
India is a document-poor country rife with gender, class and caste inequalities. It has been through several ecological and man-made calamities. Events such as the partition in 1947, subsequent wars, riots and pogroms alongwith floods, earthquakes, cyclones and tsunamis have led to loss of documents of thousands of people. Moreover a very significant amount of population still lives with limited access to fundamental provisions like water and electricity. How can they be expected to produce documentary evidence of their lives and those of their ancestors? These people, specifically India’s largest minority, the Muslim population is staring at disenfranchisment and future in detention centres
India’s failed experiment with launching the National Register of Citizens in the northeastern state of Assam should serve as a cautionary tale.
It is in response to this that women from all across the country have been staging 24x7 sit-ins and protests. Self-organised and fearless women from working-class neighbourhoods have banded together in the face of bigotry and hatred.
Shaheen Bagh, a neighbourhood in the capital of New Delhi (specifically in the ghettoised geographical location known as Jamia) was amongst the first such sit-ins and it inspired thousands of other women to come together.
Shaheen Bagh: What Irks the Saint?
For its part, the women of Shaheen Bagh have faced intense criticism, they have witnessed violence being unleashed on them, and have suffered through the loss of near and dear ones — yet, they continue their strife.
Protesters Overpower Man Brandishing Gun At Shaheen Bagh
Shaheen Bagh - No, money cannot buy them
Shaheen Bagh has inspired women from across the country to protest for their rights against an unconstitutional law:
We Are Seeing, for the First Time, a Sustained Countrywide Movement Led by Women
Indian citizenship law protests spearheaded by women
New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kanpur, Lucknow, Aligarh, and Gaya are just some examples of protests that have answered Shaheen Bagh’s call for Indians’ democratic right to protest.
One such protest was being held in Jaffrabad in East Delhi.
On Sunday I.e. 23rd February a BJP member Kapil Mishra in the presence of a high ranking Police Officer made an incendiary speech calling for the protest to be cleared out. He roused his followers to take to the streets to end the peaceful protests against the CAA.
Minutes after his speech unabated violence broke out on the streets.
Following are some timelines:
Delhi violence LIVE UPDATES: NSA visits riot-affected areas; HC holds midnight hearing
‘This is Hindu awakening’: What exactly happened in North East Delhi over the past two days
Ensure Safe Passage Of Wounded To Hospital, Delhi High Court Tells Cops In Midnight Order
As of Wednesday night, the official death toll due to the violence stands at 28, though informal sources say the number could be double of this. Hundreds of people have been injured (250 and counting) — some have been taken to nearby hospitals, while others lie in hopes that they will be allowed safe passage. The police force in the capital has been found, on multiple occasions, to be complicit in the violent treatment being meted out to the city’s Muslim population.
Following are some links to coverage that the events have received from international media:
Please tag all international news publications, journalists, academics, activists, influencers. We hope that under enough international pressure this government can be held accountable for its criminal crackdown on its own people. Lives that are lost cannot be returned but maybe by raising our voice now, we can prevent the loss of more lives. Indians struggling to preserve democracy and secularism need your help now!
Shared below are some handles that we have been using on twitter to amplify our voice internationally.
@gautambhatia88
@atti_cus
Seema Chishti @seemay
Sushant Singh @officialsushantsingh
@karunanundy
@prashantbhushan
@dcolingonsalves
Indira Jaising the lawyer @IJaising
@theguardian
New York Times @nytimes
New Yorker @newyorker
Washinton Post @washingtonpost
@welt
Ramachandra Guha @ram_guha
@ndtv
@ravishKumar
@barkhadutt
Sreenivasan Jain - NDTV @SreenivasanJain
Raghu Karnad - journo @rkarnad
Avaaz petition .org - @Avaaz
@UNHCR
@UNWomen
@TrishaShetty lawyer
@VrindaGrover lawyer
@Supremecourt
@Delhi High court
@fayedsouza
@UNICEFIndia
@svaradarajan (wire journalist)
@gautambhatia88
@hrw (human rights watch)
@amnesty
@AIIndia
@TheDeshBhakt Akash Bannerjee journalist
@RanaAyyub Rana Ayyub Journalist
@HRF - Human Rights Federation
@UNHumanRights
@humanrights1st
@USCIRF
@IndianAmericanMuslimCouncil
@sawhneyyyyy
@pavemented
@therealnaomibarton
@avichaldubey
@ThePrintIndia
@reuters
@AJEnglish
@BBCWorld
@ttindia
@badassbrownactivist
@feministflowetcrown
@unhumanrights
@hrw
@svaradarajan
@thewire_in
@AbhinandanSekhr
@SushantSin
@IndianExpress
Civil Rights Defenders (@crdefenders)
HRWF International (@HRWFint)
Global Rights (@GlobalRights)
UN Watch (@UNWatch)
@EURAC
FIDH (@fidh_en)
@hrf
Human Rights First (@humanrights1st)
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) (@CHRI_INT)
Protection International (@ProtectionInt)
UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights)
Muslim Charities Forum (MCF) (@muslimcharities)
IPI (@globalfreemedia)
@BBCIndia
Live Law (@LiveLawIndia)
UPI.com (@UPI)
@vibhugroverr
@jaatprincess
@rumshahahhahhahahahhahahaaha
@apinchofcrazy
@diary_of_jamian
@puranidilliwaley
@unbiased.media
@paansinghstoner
@hasanminhaj
@ISHRglobal
@social_rights
@ifrcasiapacific
@forum_asia
@BHRRC
@HRHFoundation
@ICJ_Asia
@ettrick49
Shared below is a Youtube link to a Citizen video report, collating videos and data to create a comprehensive timeline of the violence that began on 22nd Feb 2020.
As of 27th February 3:00 AM IST, there is constant news of fresh violence breaking out, from across Delhi. The images pouring in are exactly like what India witnessed in Gujarat 2002 pogrom.
Please consider this a SOS call.