Author: Narayan Bareth
Publication: BBC News
Date: January 9, 2004
URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2642209.stm
The Indian Government's move to
deport Pakistani nationals residing illegally in India is causing concern
for Pakistani Hindus living in the western state of Rajasthan.
An organisation representing them,
the Pak Vishthapit Sangh, feels it may create problems as they gave up
their Pakistani citizenship and settled in the border state of Rajasthan.
These Hindus came to India from
Pakistan with valid travel documents and refused to go back because they
feared persecution on religious grounds.
But now they are in limbo.
'We have been demanding Indian citizenship
for a long time, but [there's] no one to listen our problems," says PVS
president Hindu Singh Sodha.
According to Mr Sodha, there are
over 1,600 applications pending before the government for Indian nationality
to be granted to the Hindus, but nothing has been done.
This is despite the large numbers
of Pakistani Hindus living in Rajasthan.
Over 3,000 such people live in Jodhpur
district alone as it is the biggest city near the Pakistan border and presents
employment opportunities.
Committee
The Rajasthan state government has
already set up a committee to look into the problems of these Pakistani
nationals and referred the case to the federal government.
Mr Sodha says: "These people are
victims of persecution and most of them are gripped by abject poverty and
belong to lower-caste communities of Hindus. They do not have a single
penny."
Most of them have relatives in border
districts, but they are not allowed to visit these areas because of legal
restrictions on their movements.
Harassment fears
Mr Sodha also says these Pakistani
Hindus fear they may now be harassed by Indian intelligence agencies following
the recent directive issued by the Indian Government to crack down on illegal
immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
During the India-Pakistan war, a
large number of Pakistani Hindus crossed the border and settled in India.
There are some cases in which migrants
who had come to India in 1971 are yet to get citizenship.
Even though the ruling BJP pursues
a Hindu nationalist agenda, these Hindus are left abandoned as they are
from lower castes, Mr Sodha alleged.
