Amy Kazmin: Back in 1982, Myanmar adopted a citizenship law recognising eight ethnic groups as “national races”, whose members were entitled to citizenship. But Rohingya — a mostly-Muslim population reviled by Burmese as illegal migrants from Bangladesh — were excluded. They instead needed “conclusive evidence” that their ancestors had lived in Burma prior to its 1948 independence — impossible for most to provide.
Rohingya remained in Myanmar despite tight restrictions on their movement, education, employment and marriage. Decades of persecution culminated in the mass expulsion of 700,000 Rohingya into neighbouring Bangladesh in 2017.
The context for the Indian bill has also raised alarms. The government — which claims India is being swamped by illegal Muslim migrants from Bangladesh — is gearing up for a massive national exercise to assess which of India’s 1.3bn residents is eligible for citizenship.
Echoing demands once made on Rohingya, Indians are expected to have to prove their ancestors were resident in India in the first years after independence — or face the prospect of being declared illegal migrants, liable to detention and deportation.
Yet Hindus and other groups now deemed refugees by the new rules will be protected. The spectre of statelessness falls therefore mainly on Muslims.
Country has incorporated religious criteria into its naturalisation and refugee policies. More here.