Law minister Anisul Huq has assured non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) that the government would not enact any laws detrimental to their interests. NRBs can contest in the local government polls and join political parties. But they cannot contest for Jatiya Sangsad seats, the post of the President and be appointed as Supreme Court judges. The law minister said this while addressing the concluding session of a seminar yesterday. It was arranged by the centre for NRBs at a local hotel yesterday.
Following objections from different quarters, several amendments have been made in the draft law on citizenship, the law minister said. His comment came after many expatriate Bangladeshis and experts at the seminar pointed out some of the weaknesses of the proposed law. Anisul Huq also told the audience that the Citizenship Act cleared by the Cabinet earlier retained some of the limitations on NRBs to contest in the local government polls and join the political parties. "There would be no clauses in the Act that would make the NRBs ‘stateless’. They would have rights to all their property," he said.