Jaipur: The state government this year has granted Indian citizenship to 79 Pakistani nationals from January to June this year, who were living in India for more than 10 years. These people – all of them are Hindus – migrated from Pakistan several years ago on pilgrims or visitor’s visa and never returned.
Over 20,000 such migrants from Pakistan are living in Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jalore and Pali in western Rajasthan. Most of them are from the backward classes and were all born in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
Majority of them left their country of birth following persecution and forcible conversion and have been living in India illegally and in some cases, they have been living for over a decade but were not getting any civil amenities as their citizenship issues were not settled. These people were deprived of benefits under the various welfare schemes.
By Prakash Bhandari
