Four million in India risk losing citizenship

Guwahati : India on Monday effectively stripped four million people in Assam of citizenship, sparking fears of mass deportations from the northeastern state.

A new draft register of citizens includes only those able to prove they were in Assam before 1971, when millions fled Bangladesh’s war of independence into the state, and their descendants. Assam, where one third of the population is Muslim, is the only Indian state to compile a register of citizens. The country’s Supreme Court which has been supervising the registration, had initially set June 30 as the deadline to publish the draft list. But this was postponed to July 30.