Shillong, May 28: The Hynñiewtrep Youth Council (HYC) on Monday distributed anti – Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 pamphlets to protest against the Centre’s move to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The pamphlets entitled “The Citizenship Bill, 2016 – A plague that will wipe out the indigenous community” were distributed by the Council’s activists in various government offices including the Secretariat and the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC).

HYC president Robertjune Kharjahrin said that the objective of distributing the pamphlets was to create awareness about ill effects that the Bill will have on the minority communities in the region if it is allowed to become an Act.

“From the beginning, we as an organization have strongly opposed the move of the Centre to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said.

Understanding the great threat that comes along with such proposal, Kharjahrin said, “If 1.4 crore Bangladeshi Hindus are allowed to stay in Meghalaya through such laws, the indigenous people will no doubt become refugees in their own land.”

Urging the people to unitedly oppose the Bill, the HYC president said that the Council appreciates the bold decision taken by the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) Cabinet to say no to the Bill.

“However, this is not enough as the state government has to pass a resolution inside the House to send a clear message to the Centre government on the matter. We will soon write to the chief minister on this,” he said.

Kharjahrin further informed that the HYC will also write to the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) to oppose the Citizenship Bill of the Centre.

“We demand the two ADCs of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills region to also pass similar resolutions in their respective Houses and also officially communicate the same to the Centre,” he said.