At ThePrintOTC, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri says those who perpetrated violence during protests against the citizenship law will be identified.
Neelam Pandey 18 December, 2019
Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri (right) with ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta at the Off The Cuff event | Photo | Suraj Singh Bisht
New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government will look into the cases of Ahmadiyyas and Shia Muslims facing persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan if they seek shelter in India, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said Tuesday.
“If persecuted Ahmadiyas or Shias seek refuge in India, we will vet the cases separately,” Puri said at ThePrint’s ‘Off the Cuff’ in New Delhi. The Union civil aviation and urban development minister was in conversation with ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta.
Referring to the violent protests in Assam, Delhi and other parts of the country against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Puri said those who have perpetrated violence and misled the people will be identified.
The minister said he has been a great admirer and champion of youth mobilisation, but things have come to a point where one seriously needs to “introspect” and see what has happened.
“Look, let me share one thing with you. This city is full of CCTV cameras, every one of us has a phone, everything has been captured and when you look at that evidence, you will have the faces, you will get the names of the people who have done it. And I think, the picture, which is going to emerge from this, will cause a lot of discomfort to a lot of people,” he added.
The new citizenship law seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they faced religious persecution there, and arrived in India before 31 December 2014.
