Policy Center for the New South Act 2019 is fundamentally discriminatory in nature36”. The Office of the UNHCR hoped that the new law will be reviewed by the Supreme Court of India and that the court will carefully consider the compatibility of the law with India’s international human rights obligations. Deteriorating relations with bordering countries cannot be ruled out. India’s relations with both Sri Lanka and in particular Pakistan who has reacted predictably and laughably, even passing a resolution against the CAA in its parliament37. Thus, the regional strategic environment is not going to be very conducive for the India-Pakistan dynamic. The endgame in Afghanistan will probably see greater contestation between the two countries, in addition to new alignments. The China factor will continue to loom over South Asia, not just in the context of CPEC but also the Indo-Pacific strategy. The more India hedges China by engaging in the Indo-Pacific with the US and its allies, the more Beijing will rely on Pakistan to keep India unsettled. Even if India doesn’t play ball on IndoPacific, the Chinese are unlikely to stop leaning heavily in propping up Pakistan against India, regionally and globally. The US too will use Pakistan to focus India’s attention on itself and its Indo-Pacific strategy38. Policy Brief Conclusion: The Poisonous Law Since independence, India has disproved projections that its democracy would crumble, by accommodating its diverse set of many constituencies and their various languages, ethnicities, castes and religions. While the state can indeed frame its citizenship laws, this is not absolute. There are a corpus of international legal obligations and principles that place limits on the types of laws that can be enacted. So to indicate that a state has sole purview with no check on the manner of its citizenship law is wrong. The sovereign right to determine nationality is not absolute, and there are a number of obligations a state needs to adhere to which emanate from multiple sources, including a variety of international treaties that India has committed to adhere to. That’s why we wonder if the authorities of New Delhi will apply the CAA in reality or is it just a post-electoral populist decision. 36. Jeremy Laurence. Press Briefing on India. United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. December 13, 2019. https://www.ohchr. org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25425&LangID=E 37. Sushant Sareen. Pakistan is fishing in troubled waters by protesting against CAA. Observer Research Fondation. December 26, 2019. https:// www.orfonline.org/research/pakistan-is-fishing-in-troubled-waters-byprotesting-against-caa-59542/ 38. Sushant Sareen. Yesterday once more: India and Pakistan relations in the new decade. Observer Research Fondation. December 26, 2019. https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/yesterday-once-more-india-andpakistan-relations-in-the-new-decade-59743/ www.policycenter.ma 9