India Tomorrow
New Delhi, October 5 – A National Convention organised in Delhi for the removal of restrictions and the restoration of democratic freedoms in the Kashmir valley at the Gandhi Peace Foundation on the 5th of October called for removal of restrictions in Kashmir.
Speakers at the convention also strongly objected to the Home Minister Amit Shah,s communally-charged fear-mongering on the issue of National Register of Citizens. Calling citizenship a fundamental right, speakers at the convention said that it cannot be trivialised and made into an election issue. They also called for the just resolution of the cases of more than 19 lakh people left out of the final NRC list in Assam, stressing that no person must be rendered stateless as a result of the government’s negligence or mistakes.
The National Convention on Freedom and Dignity was jointly organised by SIO, UAH, APCR, Fraternity Movement, PUCL Delhi, ICLU, PVCHR and the Samvidhan Bachao Sangharsh Samiti.
In the first session, a documentary on the NRC process in Assam entitled “Stateless” – An conventional story of new India, was screened. The documentary focused on the difficulties faced by people who had filed claims before the NRC, as well as the problems and lacunae of the legal process as a whole. the process of updating NRC placed too much discretion in the hands of ordinary bureaucrats and was ridden with complaints of unfair exclusion and faulty procedures. This is the first time in history that a state has endangered the rights of 1.9 million of its citizens through a simple bureaucratic process. This day in history will be remembered as the Darkest Day for the citizen’s rights of India. The session was addressed by Adv HR Choudhary of Assam, Nadeem Khan (United Against Hate), Labeed Shafi (President, SIO) and others.
In the second session, a report on the first parliament session of the second Modi Government (budget session 2019-20) entitled “Parliament Watch” was released. The report contained brief highlights of all the bills passed in the last session of parliament, as well as analysis of the bills relating to education, fundamental rights, national security and economy. The report was released by Member of Parliament Dr Manoj Jha. The session was also addressed by Dr Ghazala Jamil of JNU, Suhail KK of Quill Foundation, Adv. Abdullah Azzam (Fmr. President, AMU Students Union) and senior journalist Anil Chamadia.
In the concluding session representatives of different organisations including Shariq Ansar (Fraternity Movement), Anas Tanveer (ICLU) and Syed Azharuddin (General Secretary, SIO)
