Enemy property ordinance undemocratic, says Muslim body

Prominent Muslim organisation Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) on Wednesday termed the governments latest move to bring an ordinance to amend the 50-year-old Enemy Property Act as "undemocratic and infringing the fundamental rights of citizens".

JIH General Secretary Muhammad Salim Engineer said: "Legislation via ordinance should be adopted only under special circumstances and the government's anxiety to push for amendment to the enemy property law in such a hurried manner raises serious doubts over its real intentions. Moreover, the President of India has expressed his reservations over its repeated re-promulgation."

The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, was referred to a Select Committee after encountering opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

"The bill violates basic principles of natural justice, human rights and settled principles of law, and many MPs too have said as much. It adversely affects and results in punishing Indian citizens and will have no effect on any enemy nation," Salim said.

He said the ordinance is meant to harass minorities and should be condemned.

"The law of succession and inheritance will also be impacted, and hence the fundamental rights of citizens will be infringed. It will also affect their personal laws, and is therefore unacceptable," he said.

Salim said the proposed law can be "subverted in a subtle way to create enmity against the Muslim community by terming their legally inherited property as enemy property".

"The government should pass such amendments in a democratic manner through Parliament and which do not cause any injustice to anyone," he demanded.

--IANS

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