With 108 Pakistani Hindu migrants having obtained Indian citizenship in Jodhpur on Sunday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has requested the Centre to simplify and expedite the process for granting citizenship to the members of the Hindu community displaced from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Jodhpur Collector Ravi Kumar Surpur distributed the citizenship certificates to 108 former Pakistanis on Sunday while disposing of their matters pending for several years. The migrant-turned-Indian citizens turned jubilant and raised slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” at the function at Jodhpur’s Town Hall.
Most of the Hindu migrants, who had crossed the international border and settled in western Rajasthan following their persecution in Pakistan’s Sindh province, are engaged in small businesses and petty works. The education of their children is held up for want of citizenship, as they were unable to get admission in the local schools and colleges.
DMs authorised
Ms. Raje, who met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi last week, said the applications of a large number of such migrants residing in different districts of the State were pending. The Home Ministry has already authorised District Magistrates of Jaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer to grant permanent resident and citizenship rights to the Hindu migrants.
For other districts, the State Home Secretary has been authorised. These rights are limited for a period extending up to two years since the notification in this regard was published. Ms. Raje suggested that this time window be extended by one more year and the DMs of Udaipur, Pali, Jalore, Alwar and Barmer be given the authority for grant of rights.
Ms. Raje also suggested that the DMs be given the authority for extension of the long-term visa beyond five years for those migrants who were willing to get India’s permanent citizenship. “The release of Intelligence Bureau’s report from the Ministry of Home Affairs before grant of citizenship is a time-consuming affair,” she remarked.
Expedite process
Ms. Raje said a copy of the IB report should be directly forwarded to DMs as per the guidelines issued by the Home Ministry in August 2017 to expedite the process for grant of citizenship.
A visa-for-money racket was exposed last month following the arrest of a Home Ministry official and three others in Jodhpur on charges of extorting money from the Hindu migrants from Pakistan who had applied for visa extension, visa transfer and grant of citizenship. The Home Ministry official allegedly used to halt action on the applications and approve them only after receiving bribe through his agents.
There are 400 Pakistani Hindu refugee settlements in cities such as Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Jaipur, where thousands of migrants stay. The Hindu migrants from Bangladesh mostly live in West Bengal and north-eastern States.
