CAA and NRC are two different things: Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad

Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad on Saturday said that Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) are two different things.

He said attempts were being made by political parties to mislead people and appealed to the members of the Muslim community to exercise restraint.

"NRC, as of now, is implemented only in Assam and has not been implemented across India. We do not yet know what rules are going to be in it. Parties are misleading on this. I appeal to Muslims to show restraint," he told ANI.

Maulana Kalbe Jawad said political parties were taking advantage of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

He said Islam ordains that the property of other people should not be damaged.

"Political parties are taking advantage of these protests. Their people come and get mixed with the crowd and create violence. Islam has ordained that nobody should damage somebody else's properties. We should try to calm down the situation," he said.

Protests have been held in different parts of the country, including Uttar Pradesh, over the Citizenship Amendment Act which grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and came to India on or before December 31, 2014.