The United Nations refused to comment on clearance of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Indian Parliament's lower house, the Lok Sabha, with Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, saying the bill is still under legislative process.
"As far as I am aware, this legislation will go through a legislative process. We do not have a comment while the domestic legislative process is being carried out," Guterres said.
The intergovernmental organisation remarked it is concerned about ensuring that "all governments peruse non-discriminatory laws".
Meanwhile, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom while stating that it is deeply troubled by the controversial bill, said on Tuesday the US government should consider imposing sanctions on Indian Home Minister Amit Shah if both houses of the Indian Parliament clear the proposed legislation.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill will be tabled today in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has expressed confidence that the Bill will sail through the Rajya Sabha as well, though the party lacks the needed numbers in the upper house to get it cleared without the support of other parties.
If passed, the proposed legislation will clear the way for non-Muslim persecuted minorities in India's neighbouring Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to obtain citizenship in India.
The Bill, which seeks to grant citizenship to immigrants based on religion, got the green light from the lower house of the Indian Parliament and has been assessed as 'discriminatory towards Muslims" by the opposition parties in India.
The Indian government, however, denied such allegations, saying that the Bill has "nothing to do with Indian Muslims and they have nothing to fear".
