By TON Nepal

On Sunday, amid opposition from three main parties, the parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Commission permitted an amendment bill on the Citizenship Act through the facility that foreign women married to Nepali men will have to wait for seven years to get naturalized nationality.

The House committee had debated and went ahead with the seven-year provision after the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) took a decision to that effect. According to the chair of the committee, the citizenship amendment bill has been permitted by majority votes. A foreign woman married to a Nepali man will be allowed naturalized citizenship after her constant stay in Nepal for seven years.

In the 27-member committee, the ruling party holds a majority with 16 members. The Nepali Congress has six members and the Rashtriya Janata Party and the Samajbadi Party have two members. Of the 27 members, eight, including the committee chair are women.

The Nepali Congress, Samajbadi Party Nepal, and Rashtriya Janata Party Nepal had opposed the provision, calling it unconstitutional and saying that it goes against the provision of the interim constitution 2006, as per which the Citizenship Act allowed foreign women to acquire naturalized citizenship after getting married to Nepali men.

According to Clause 5.1 of the Citizenship Act, foreign women are instantly qualified for citizenship upon marriage to a Nepali man while there are no provisions for a foreign man who marries a Nepali woman, requiring foreign men to pass a minimum of 15 years in Nepal before being qualified to apply for naturalized citizenship.

The House committee did not deliberate the issue of foreign men marrying Nepali women. Earlier on Sunday, a gathering of the office bearers of the Nepali Congress had decided to register a note of dissent if the ruling party went to the amendment bill in the parliamentary committee.

In its five-point reminder, the party has said the provision in the Nepal Citizenship Act, 2006 regarding the naturalized citizenship for foreign women who enter into marriage with Nepali men must continue.

The Nepali Congress demands that the bill's planned modifications should be made per earlier provisions of the Nepal Citizenship Act, 2006, which was approved as per an understanding among the political parties.

It is obvious that the change in the previous provision of the marital naturalized citizenship will bring a constitutional crisis, as Article 289 of the charter allows naturalized citizens to take part in politics except for assuming the top positions including President, Vice President, prime minister, Speaker, chairman of the National Assembly and chief minister.

The parliamentary committee has incorporated a provision that foreign women married to Nepali men would be provided with an identity card of a permanent resident allowing them to enjoy economic, social, and cultural rights until they have naturalized citizenship.

The Citizenship Act was enrolled in unanimity and the constitutional facility permits political rights, except for some positions, for people having naturalized citizenship. A single party cannot amend the provision that was adopted in the consensus of all parties.

The rights activists have called the seven-year condition for foreign women married to Nepali men as a reverting move. The issue of citizenship is linked with an individual’s human rights. Such a faulty provision means women would be deprived of their fundamental human rights. This provision is not only against the spirit of the constitution that ensures equality but also against the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”.

Rights activists have also pointed to problems that children of foreign women married to Nepali men could face in case their relationship gets strained before the seven-year period. According to them, this could make such children stateless.

There are also concerns about the House committee treating foreign women and foreign men married to Nepali citizens differently. According to rights activists, the provision that a foreign man has to wait for 15 years after marrying a Nepali woman to obtain Nepali citizenship shows how the state still continues to treat women as second-class citizens, with rarer rights for her matched to Nepali men.

Some women leaders from the ruling party said that the decision taken by a male nine-member Secretariat on the issue that concerns women is biased and there is a need to take decisions by treating women and men as equals and the relevant clause should not say ‘man’ or ‘woman’ but ‘citizen’, so as not to victimize against anyone on the basis of sex a ruling party lawmaker and rights activist. The clause should say that any foreign citizen marrying a Nepali citizen.

As women are being denied equal rights in the name of national security and sovereignty, when it comes to citizenship women are wholly flawed. One should speak with certain facts if there are any; one cannot just point at national security, undermining women’s rights.

Apparently, the seven-year rule is against the spirit of the constitution. It is against the feelings of millions of people living in the neighboring areas where people from both sides logically have married relationships.

DHAKA, 08 July 2022, (TON): Prime minister Sheikh Hasina said “the entire world was now being rattled due to the impact of the coronavirus and the Russia-Ukraine war.”

She said “we’re unfortunate today when the condition of the people of the world is worsening in the wake of the coronavirus and the Russia-Ukraine war, the USA has imposed sanctions on Russia, which aggravates the uncertainty in getting imported  goods alongside increasing costs.”

She said “the people of Bangladesh have not only been affected by its impact, but it has also put an effect on the people of the whole world, including America, Europe, and England.”

DHAKA, 08 July 2022, (TON): Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman has appreciated Japanese ambassador Ito Naoki’s expectations of evidence based arguments and said “there was no scope of treating any aspect of this research unfounded.”

The TIB executive director said “we want to assure him (Naoki) that globally accepted methodologies including data collection and validation procedures, and other standards of social science research were strictly followed while conducting the study.”

The Japanese envoy made some comments on TIB’s recent research report titled ‘Coal and LNG-based Power Projects in Bangladesh “Governance Challenges and the Way Ahead’ while speaking at the second Integrated Energy and Power Master Plan preparation stakeholder meeting, as reported by the media on July 3.”

The ambassador called upon Transparency International Bangladesh to ‘present evidence-based arguments’.

NEW DELHI, 08 July 2022, (TON): The ministry said “Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will brief the members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Defence, comprising MPs from ruling as well as opposition parties, on various aspects of the recently-launched Agnipath recruitment.”

The defence ministry said “the three service chiefs and defence secretary are also likely to be present in the meeting.”

The committee on Defence chaired by Mr Singh has 20 members, including 13 from Lok Sabha and around 7 from Rajya Sabha, according to the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry website.

It includes members from almost all parties. Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, National Conference supremo Farooq Abdullah and TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay are among its members.  

DHAKA, 08 July 2022, (TON): Bangladesh has been elected to the Asia-Pacific Intergovernmental Committee on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage for 2022-2026.

Bangladesh was elected to the Intergovernmental Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage for four years during its ninth general meeting held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on July 6.

A press release from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs said “apart from Bangladesh, other countries selected from the Asia-Pacific region were India, Vietnam, and Malaysia.”

Bangladesh ambassador to France and permanent representative to UNESCO, Khandaker M Talha, cultural affairs secretary Md Abul Mansur, and joint secretary Md Fahimul Islam, also participated in the general meeting of UNESCO’s ICH affairs on July 5-7, 2022.

DHAKA, 08 July 2022, (TON): Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina urged international community to play more active role in Rohingya repatriation to their homeland, realising the huge burden of over one million displaced Myanmar nationals on Bangladesh under the fallout of Coronavirus and Russia-Ukraine war.

She said “Rohingyas are huge burden for us. All the countries are facing difficulties due to Coronavirus and Russia-Ukraine war. So, all should realise Bangladesh’s difficulties to tackle another burden of Rohingyas as it has also a population of 16.50 crore.”

The premier said “this while virtually inaugurating the newly constructed 8-storey building of the foreign ministry and conferring Bangabandhu Medal for Diplomatic Excellence, from her official Ganabhaban residence here.”

The ministry of foreign affairs organised the programme at the Hall Room of its newly constructed building in the city.

DHAKA, 08 July 2022, (TON): Malaysian Minister of Human Resources Datuk Seri Saravanan Murugan said “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was not involved in selecting the 25 worker recruitment companies in Bangladesh.”

A press statement released by the Malaysian ministry said “the allegations about the prime minister are totally false and unfounded.”

The statement said “my statement of meeting with her excellency and explaining the current affairs of the Bangladeshi foreign workers in our country is taken out of context. My meeting with Her Excellency was to narrate the current situation of foreign workers and the initiatives taken by my ministry for better working conditions.”

The authorities in Bangladesh provided a list of 1,520 recruitment companies, of which the Malaysian Human Resources Ministry only selected 25.

BEIJING, 07 July 2022, (TON): Top officials from the United States and China held a candid video call to discuss global economic challenges, especially regarding supply chains.

The exchange between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen came as President Joe Biden considers lifting some tariffs on imports from China to try and ease soaring inflation.

The world’s two biggest economies are also grappling with Covid-snarled supply chains and rising global energy prices.

China’s official Xinhua news agency reported “the two sides agree that as the world economy is facing severe challenges, it is of great significance to strengthen macro-policy communication and coordination between China and the United States.”

CAIRO, 07 July 2022, (TON): Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry, and the UK’s minister of foreign and commonwealth affairs and development, Liz Truss, inaugurated the UK-Egypt Association Council in London.

The two sides issued a joint statement following the launch, stressing it created a new platform to promote the ambitions expressed in the agreement between the UK and Egypt, signed in December 2020.

The statement revealed that the two ministers held talks on developing the strategic partnership between their countries, and welcomed a number of commercial successes between them.

This comes in addition to the sale of two marine supply units that belonged to the Royal Navy to Egypt, including contracts for renewal and development.

CAIRO, 07 July 2022, (TON): The air forces of the US and Egypt have carried out a joint training exercise at a base in the North African country, strengthening military cooperation between the two countries.

An Egyptian military spokesman announced that the exercise involved a series of lectures on unifying combat concepts.

The training flights demonstrated the extent to which the Egyptian Air Force has reached a high level of professionalism that qualifies its fighter pilots to carry out all tasks entrusted to them.

The exercise comes in light of the growing partnership and military cooperation between Cairo and Washington.