Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Six Pakistani migrants, living in Madhya Pradesh for decades, were granted Indian citizenship on Wednesday under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), officials said.
State Home Minister Narottam Mishra said these migrants were victims of religious persecution.
"Indian citizenship has been provided to these Hindu migrants who reached here due to religious persecution in neighbouring countries. The state government has completed the process and handed them Indian citizenship certificates today," Mishra told reporters.
Among the six who were granted Indian citizenship, Nandlal and Amit Kumar are residents of Bhopal while Arjundas Manchandani, Jairam Das, Narayan Das and Saushalya Bai are from Mandsaur, the minister said.
Talking to reporters, Manchandani said, "We are happy that the government has provided us citizenship. I was neither an Indian nor a Pakistani for the last 31 years, but now I am an Indian citizen".
Officials said these people came to Madhya Pradesh from the Sindh province of Pakistan between 1988 and 2005 and were granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The CAA, passed in December 2019, expedites grant of Indian citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who arrived in India before December 2014 due to religious persecution.
