Page 22 - Pakistan Link - October 18, 2019

P22 – PAKISTAN LINK – OCTOBER 18, 2019 COMMENTARY
India’s Muslims ‘Living in Fear’ of Being Branded

n By Sanjay Kumar
New Delhi in rural areas are closed. It’s an un-
precedented situation. Muslims are
more worried after minister Shah’s
abina Bibi and her three- statement on Tuesday in Kolkata
year-old daughter queued for where he openly assured Hindus
Smore than 12 hours without that the government would take
food just to get a spelling correct- care of them.”
ed in her ration card. BJP spokesperson in West
The 33-year-old daily wage Bengal, Sayantan Basu, said: “The
worker joined hundreds of men BJP is going to bring NRC not only
and women with similar concerns in West Bengal but all over India.
standing in line outside the govern- But the NRC will only be intro-
ment Block Development Office in duced in West Bengal after the pas-
Basudevpur, in the Murshidabad sage of the citizenship amendment
district of West Bengal. bill in Parliament.
For Muslims in the eastern In- “Through this amendment we
dian state, which borders Bangla- want to ensure citizenship to pros-
desh, these are nervy times. ecuted Hindu and other minorities
Panic has swept through the who have come from Bangladesh,
Muslim community, which makes Pakistan and Afghanistan,” he told
up 34 percent of the West Bengal Arab News.
population, following last month’s “Muslims who are genuine citi-
announcement by the Indian Min- zens of India do not need to panic.
ister of Home Affairs Amit Shah No country would like to give shel-
that the National Register of Citi- ter to illegal immigrants. Would
zens (NRC) would be implemented you expect the US to give you citi-
throughout the country. The NRC zenship if you enter the country il-
is designed to identify genuine citi- to be declared Indian citizens, but It’s a question of our existence and I threat. Prof. Abdul Matin of Jadav- legally?”
zens of India while declaring anyone no such reassurance has been made did not mind standing in the queue pur University, who runs an NGO Matin said: “There is a deep
without valid papers as stateless. to the millions of Muslims living in to get my name and my husband’s in the district, said at least 16 people sense of panic in all the Muslim-
In the northeastern state of As- the country. corrected,” she told Arab News. had died in the last month in NRC- dominated districts of Bengal. The
sam, where the checks were recently And fears are particularly Saira Bano, 21, from Sherganj related cases. fear is all the more pronounced after
applied, more than 1.9 million peo- heightened in West Bengal which village also in the Murshidabad “Three people committed sui- Shah’s open declaration that Mus-
ple of all faiths were branded state- the BJP is hoping to capture in the district, spent more than 10 hours cide because of the tension, at least lims would not be included in the
less because their names did not ap- next assembly elections. Muslims waiting to get her 65-year-old fa- four people died due to heat expo- citizenship amendment bill.
pear on the official citizenship list. there are worried that by introduc- ther’s misspelt name corrected in sure while standing outside gov- “Muslims are worried from
Half of them were thought to be ing the NRC, the BJP might try to his ration card, an important gov- ernment offices, and three people where they will get their legacy cer-
Hindus. disenfranchise the sizable Muslim ernment document. suffered a heart attack because they tificate. People are not so particular
However, India’s ruling population. “It’s not a normal time now. We could not sort out their documents,” about maintaining documents. They
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has as- “Ever since the BJP said it was cannot afford to ignore even a silly added Matin. think that the way people in Assam
sured Hindus and other non-Mus- going to introduce the NRC in West mistake in the official document. Subrata Chakraborty, a jour- had to present their forefather’s data
lim communities that they will be Bengal, Muslims in the state have Our identity is in question. We have nalist based in the Murshidabad will be the same in Bengal.
given citizenship status following been living in fear. They don’t want a government in Delhi which looks district, said: “Life in rural Bengal “Rabble-rousing speeches by
proposed changes to the country’s to take any chances,” said Bibi. at India from the prism of Hindu has come to a standstill with people BJP leaders are further pushing the
Citizenship Act 1955. “My husband, who works as and Muslims, and Muslims are preoccupied in procuring papers minority community into panic
The BJP government plans to a construction worker in Kerala (a treated as others,” she said. and streamlining their official doc- mode. Muslims feel they are un-
introduce a citizenship amendment state on India’s southern Malabar In the North 24 Parganas dis- uments. wanted in BJP’s India,” the political
bill in the next session of Parlia- Coast), told me that I should get the trict of West Bengal there have been “Hardly any economic activity scientist added. – Arab News
ment to allow for stateless Hindus names in our ration cards corrected. reports of suicides over the NRC is taking place in the area. Shops
The Chief and the Tycoons

n By Khurram Husain subsidies back in Janu- made on the spur of the moment during the
Karachi, Pakistan ary. meeting with whatever business delegation
But then, Asad the prime minister happened to be sitting
he first thing to note about the Umar was replaced by with, would not carry out the instructions.
meeting last week between a Hafeez Shaikh, who is The anxiety of the business community
Tdelegation of leading business- not from among Imran that had been building up for almost a year
men and the army chief is the fact that Khan’s men and all that now, poured out into the national conversa-
it happened at all. What we don’t know ended. Now they had tion, where it turned into national anxiety.
is whether the delegates were asked to to go to Shaikh with This had political implications, and many
come for the meeting or whether they their grievances, and others whose interests were being hurt by the
asked for it. Wherever the initiative may upon not being satis- turn the national conversation had taken were
have come from, the results amount to fied, they went to Im- getting ready to come forward themselves.
the same thing. ran Khan directly. That’s when the meeting hap-
The delegates were given a very clear Khan is now pened between the army chief and
message. Pakistan is on the road to stabili- famous for being the business delegation. The chief’s
zation, particularly economic stabilization. vulnerable to the last message was simple: the adjustment
There is no question of deviating from this argument left in his is here to stay, be patient. The busi-
path. Everybody must bear the burden that ears. The businessmen nessmen shared a few of their specific
the path brings. Within the constraints im- had little trouble get- complaints regarding how tax refunds
posed by this stabilization, matters can be dis- ting him to agree to are processed, for example, or how
cussed and, where possible, some corrective what they were asking the bonds issued against outstanding
steps can be taken. for, but after leaving, tax refunds lack a secondary market.
This message frames the discussion. they would learn that Some wanted the return of gas price
For more than one year now, Pakistan has time, the exchange rate is depreciated to more business community, as well as eroding Shaikh had changed his mind all over again. subsidies promised to Punjab millers
been on a policy course described in the text- accurately reflect the true value of the rupee people’s standard of living and promoting This continued for a while, and then one by last year. Others wanted procedures
books as ‘macroeconomic stabilization’. This against the dollar given our inflation and unemployment, as production lines are scaled one, these businessmen began appearing on in land acquisition to be streamlined
means that the deficits that have grown in the foreign-exchange levels. And then a massive down amid collapsing demand. The business the TV screens, in various shows; as anxiety to facilitate the construction indus-
economy — particularly fiscal and external effort is launched to raise revenues and cut community has been feeling this anxiety in a mounted, production lines ground to a halt in try. All of them wanted NAB off their
— have to be narrowed before anything else. spending, so the fiscal deficit can be narrowed. rising arc for almost a year now. Delegations some cases. back.
This is not the first stabilization drive that the This is a familiar story by now. What have been visiting Asad Umar, Imran Khan, Almost all of them conveyed the same They were told, in return, that
country has been on. Since 1988, we have seen our experience has taught us is that business Razzak Dawood and Shabbar Zaidi since message in their appearances that began in within the confines of the adjustment,
this happen more than a dozen times. and industry feel the brunt of this set of policy they came to office. For a while, they were able September and picked up pace all month: whatever was possible would be pur-
The deficits are bridged through a fa- actions as the cost of borrowing rises, the cost to get certain, specific ‘incentive packages.’ ‘The government listens to us, the prime min- sued. But they were also told to please
miliar set of policy actions. Interest rates are of imported inputs skyrockets, demand for These entities included drug compa- ister agrees with us when we meet with him. keep their voice down. Which is why
raised to make the cost of borrowing higher. their products drops and the tax authorities nies, as well as auto makers — who obtained The problem is in the implementation.’ you don’t see them on air very much
Think of interest rates as the ‘cost of money’, show up with renewed vigor as documenta- some revisions in the conditions that prohib- What these words sought to convey anymore, and when you do, their mes-
and you’ll realize what they are doing is basi- tion requirements are increased along with ited non-filers from purchasing cars. Stock- was that the prime minister himself was not sage has shifted completely, usually
cally raising the cost of money to arrest the tax rates. brokers and Punjab-based textile tycoons got difficult to convince, but the man charged towards NAB, since that is an issue
erosion in value of the rupee. At the same Doubtless all this fuels anxiety in the some targeted relief through tax or gas price with implementing his decisions, purportedly neutral to the ongoing adjustment.
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