Shillong, Nov 14: The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) has expressed strong opposition against the Centre’s move to implement the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

In a memorandum to chief minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday, KHADC chief executive member, Teiñwell Dkhar said that an executive committee of the KHADC opposed the CAB in its present form which inter alia seeks to provide that persons belonging to minority communities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan if they enter India before December 31, 2014 shall not be treated as illegal immigrants and that the Third Schedule of the 1955 Act is proposed to be amended to decrease the residence requirement from 11 years to six years.

“The CAB seeks to make drastic changes in the citizenship and immigration norms of the country by relaxing the requirements for Indian citizenship,” he said adding “The EC is of the opinion that the eligibility criterion to grant citizenship to these illegal immigrants is unreasonable and unlawful.”

In view of this, the KHADC chief has also demanded that Meghalaya should be exempted from the applicability of the CAB in its present form in order to safeguard the rights and interests of the indigenous people of the state.