美国国家公共电台 NPR 印度新公民身份法案排除穆斯林 引发全国大规模抗（在线收听）

India has deployed its army, cut 4G Internet, imposed curfews and cancelled trains and flights inparts of the northeast. Indian authorities wereresponding to thousands of people who protestedafter a Citizenship Amendment Bill passed last night. That law changes the rules on who can become anIndian citizen, and it uses religion as a criterion forcitizenship for the first time. NPR's Lauren Frayer has been reporting on this new legislation, and she's on the line from our bureau in Mumbai. Hey, Lauren.

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Hi, Noel.

KING: So what does this new law say? And what does it mean?

FRAYER: So the law makes undocumented migrants eligible for passports. It's sort of like apath to citizenship, like an amnesty. India has very strict citizenship laws. If you come into thecountry without a visa, you normally have no path to citizenship, and this law changes that. Itgrants passports to religious minorities from three neighboring countries — Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Those are majority Muslim countries. But to be eligible for this, you have to be Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or a member of a couple other smaller faiths; you cannot be Muslim.

So that exclusion of Muslims is what has many people upset. They say this law violates thesecularism and equal rights enshrined in India's Constitution. And today, oppositionlawmakers filed an appeal to the Supreme Court. The president has not yet signed this intolaw, but already it faces legal challenges.

KING: OK, so at the heart of this is that people are protesting because they see this law not assomething that helps people from these other faiths, but as a law that is basically, on its face, anti-Muslim.

FRAYER: Yes, some people are protesting because of that. The law doesn't apply to manypersecuted groups in South Asia who happen to be Muslims, like the Ahmadis in Pakistan, theHazaras in Afghanistan. Rohingya Muslims — there are hundreds of thousands of them inrefugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, and this doesn't apply to them.

But lots of protests over this are in Assam. That's one of the most diverse states in India'snortheast, and it's where immigration is a very sensitive issue. People are worried thatundocumented migrants, as they become legal, will stay permanently, will dilute localculture, will compete for local jobs. And so people in Assam are angry because, also, that'swhere the government is conducting something called the NRC, the National Register ofCitizens. It's like this local census designed to root out undocumented migrants there. Andabout 2 million people, most of them Muslims, have been unable to provide documents to provetheir citizenship and are therefore slated to lose it, even people whose families have been herefor generations.

So in Assam, all of this is happening at the same time, and that's why many there andelsewhere see this as unfair. And by the way, they have some support abroad. Human RightsWatch, Amnesty International, even a U.S. government advisory panel have all called this lawunfair and called it anti-Muslim. And that U.S. panel went as far as to call for sanctions againstIndia's home minister, who introduced this bill.

KING: Oh, that's interesting. So the center of this is in Assam, basically. How big are theprotests? What are you seeing?

FRAYER: A curfew is in place. This morning, thousands of people defied that curfew, though. They burned tires in the streets. It's evening now. Darkness has fallen. Things have gonequieter. Protests have actually been going on all week. But earlier, we saw vehicles burned, telephone poles toppled, politicians' homes vandalized. Dozens of protesters have been arrested. Tear gas was fired at them. President — Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for calm. Hetweeted out a statement saying, to the Assamese people, nobody can take away your rights.

KING: NPR's Lauren Frayer in Mumbai. Lauren, thanks so much.

FRAYER: You're welcome.

印度在该国东北部部分地区部署军队、切断4G互联网、实施宵禁并取消了火车班次和航班。昨晚通过的《公民身份法》修正案引发了抗议，印度有关部门正在应对数千名示威者。该法对获得印度公民身份的规定做出了更改，而且首次将宗教作为公民身份的评判标准。NPR新闻的劳伦·弗莱尔一直在报道这项新法案，现在她将从孟买和我们连线。你好，劳伦。

劳伦·弗莱尔连线：你好，诺埃尔。

金：这部新法涵盖哪些内容？这意味着什么？

弗莱尔：该法使非法移民有资格获得护照。这相当于获取印度公民身份的途径，类似于特赦。印度的公民身份法非常严格。如果你在没有签证的情况下来到印度，那通常来说你没有获得公民身份的途径，但新法改变了这一规定。新法向巴基斯坦、阿富汗和孟加拉国这三个邻国的宗教少数群体授予护照。这三个国家是穆斯林占多数的国家。但要想获得资格，那你必须是基督教徒、印度教徒、佛教徒、锡克教徒或其他几个较小宗教派别的教徒，不能是穆斯林。

这种排除穆斯林的做法令许多人深感不安。他们认为这项法律违反了印度宪法奉行的政教分离和平等权利。今天，反对派议员向最高法院提起上诉。该法案目前还未由印度总理签署成法律，但已经面临法律挑战。

金：好，人们进行抗议的核心原因是他们认为这项法律没有帮助其他宗教教徒，从表面上看甚至是反穆斯林的。

弗莱尔：对，一些人是因为这个原因进行的抗议。这项法律不适用于南亚大部分受迫害群体，因为他们刚好是穆斯林，比如巴基斯坦的阿玛迪派和阿富汗的哈扎拉人。现在有数十万罗兴亚穆斯林生活在印度邻国孟加拉国的难民营，这项法律对他们也不适用。

但大多数抗议发生在阿萨姆邦。这是印度东北部最多元化的邦之一，移民在该邦是极为敏感的问题。人们担心，非法移民合法化后会永久留下来，而这可能会削弱本土文化，加剧当地的工作竞争。因此，阿萨姆邦居民对此非常愤怒，因为该邦政府推行国家公民登记政策（简称NRC）。该政策相当于根除该地非法移民的人口普查。大约有200万人——大多数是穆斯林——无法提供能证明自已公民身份的文件，因此他们将失去公民身份，即使他们的家族数代以来一直在这里生活。

这一切在阿萨姆邦同时发生，所以该邦和其他地方的许多人认为这不公平。顺便说一下，他们得到了海外的支持。人权观察组织、国际特赦组织、甚至是美国政府顾问小组均认为这项法律不公平，并称其是反穆斯林法。美国顾问小组甚至要求制裁提出这一法案的印度内政部长。

金：哦，这值得注意。基本上来说，抗议中心在阿萨姆。那抗议的规模有多大？你看到了哪些情况？

弗莱尔：宵禁已经实施。不过今天上午有数千名民众违抗了宵禁。他们在街头燃烧轮胎。现在是印度的晚上。黑夜已经降临。局势已平息。实际上抗议已经持续了一周。早些时候，我们看到车辆被焚烧，电线杆被推倒，政治家的住宅被破坏。目前已有数十名抗议者被逮捕。抗议者被喷催泪瓦斯。印度总理莫迪呼吁大家保持冷静。他在推特上发表声明，对阿萨姆邦民众表示，没有人能夺走你们的权利。

金：以上是NPR新闻的劳伦·弗莱尔从孟买带来的报道。劳伦，非常谢谢你。

弗莱尔：不客气。