Barmer: Manguram, 57, a tailor based in Rajasthan’s Barmer, a border district, is a scared man these days. He is a Pakistani Hindu who has been living in India on visa extensions. But, with his passport now set to expire, he feels his time in India may finally be up.
“After every 8 months, we had to extend the visa, but my passport is about to expire. We will have to go to Pakistan to renew it,” he said. “Now, if we go to Pakistan, people will shoot us, and the officials will not let us stay here, where should we go?”
Manguram is one of several Pakistani Hindus seeking refuge in India against religious persecution in the neighbouring country. They moved to India with hopes of settling down in peace but allege that the administration has been dragging its feet on offering any manner of relief.
Their demands include land to settle down, but also citizenship.
Hamir Singh Sodha of the advocacy group Seemant Lok Sangathan said there is a large number of Hindus from Pakistan in Rajasthan.
“They are living in very bad conditions, their voices should reach the administration,” he said. “Outreach is very important.”
On 3 July, Sodha, along with some other people working for Pakistani Hindu migrants, submitted a memorandum to Barmer district magistrate Arun Kumar Purohit where the issue of land allotment was raised, as was citizenship.
“I connected every person to the organisation and collected their problems. After that, I reached out to the DM,” he added.
According to Sodha, there “are more than 50,000 displaced Hindus from Pakistan… in Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner”.
“But the condition of the people living in Barmer is very bad. Neither politicians nor journalists reach here,” he said. “Have been given assurances but let’s see what happens.”
The migrants based in Barmer found a fresh impetus for their demand for land last month when, under Jaisalmer District Magistrate Tina Dabi, migrants from Pakistan based in the border district were allotted 40 bighas of land.
The decision came after Dabi was criticised for overseeing the demolition of the kutcha homes Pakistani Hindu migrants had built on government land.
“If in Jaisalmer there is talk of giving land to Hindus who came from Pakistan, then it should be done in Barmer also,” said Narpat Singh Dhara, president of Pak Visthapit Sangh of Barmer.
“However, our other demands include giving citizenship to the families [who haven’t yet got it].”
Reached for comment, the DM refused to speak on the matter and directed this reporter to the assistant administration officer.
Barmer assistant administration officer Teel Singh said of the memorandum that they “are seeking suggestions from the government as to what can be done and how they can be helped”. “We are seeking guidance from the government. We also want them to be helped,” he added.
Local media reports have quoted Barmer additional district magistrate Surendra Singh Purohit as saying that the district collector has formed a committee regarding the problems of Pakistani migrants. A meeting will be held soon and relief provided on the demands raised, it has reportedly been promised.
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‘Where will I go?’
There are an estimated 22 lakh Hindus in Pakistan. According to data presented in the Pakistan National Assembly in 2014, as many as 5,000 Hindus cross the border every year.
Speaking to ThePrint, the migrants based in Barmer discussed the fears they face living in Pakistan, citing reports of Hindu girls being abducted and forcefully converted.
“I have a daughter,” said Bheluram, 26. “Had she lived in Pakistan, she would have been taken away as soon as she grew up. You see in the news that they don’t let us live there peacefully,” he added, standing inside his home, a one-room tin-roof shack.
Bheluram, who lives with his wife and two children, said he came to India with only Rs 9,000, and Dhara got him a place to stay. He works as a labourer now, and complains that he earns half of what Indian labourers do.
“Other labourers get Rs 800 as wages, so they give us Rs 400,” he said.
Bheluram said Pakistani Hindus who don’t have Indian citizenship face a unique predicament. “We are called Pakistanis here and kafirs in Pakistan. We thought we would get support by coming to India, but the situation has not improved here either,” added Bheluram, who came to India on a religious visa.
Manguram, who left his transport business when he came to India in 2013, said he earns Rs 7,000-8,000 a month, with his four sons employed as labourers. Difficult as life in India is, he said he was scared about the prospect of returning to Pakistan.
“Where will I go in such a situation? I have married three of my sons here, and my daughter is also married here, where will I go with them all?” he said. “The Government of India is the only support. If it takes care of us, our lives will improve.”
In December 2021, the Union government informed Parliament that 70 percent of applications for citizenship came from Pakistanis. As of that month, it said, over 7,000 applications from Pakistani nationals were pending with the government.
In response to an RTI application filed by India Today last year, the Union home ministry said 5,220 people were granted Indian citizenship between 2017 and 2022. Pakistanis reportedly comprised 87 percent of these.
In Rajasthan, 800 Pakistani Hindus had to reportedly go back to Pakistan in 2021 because they didn’t get citizenship.
“Embassies send families to Pakistan to get their passports renewed. Families who save for their entire lives come to India with great difficulty and cannot afford to go back to Pakistan to renew their passports,” said Dhara.
Getting citizenship for the migrants, Sodha added, was one of their biggest demands.
“When we go to the Pakistan embassy for visa or passport renewal, they throw the passports in our faces and say, what will you do with a Pakistani passport when you live in India?” he added.
The Pakistani Hindus have high hopes from the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a controversial law brought exclusively to ease citizenship for six persecuted minorities from Muslim-majority Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
While the law was passed in 2020, rules under the Act are yet to be notified.
“This (CAA) will be a huge help for us,” said Sodha. “After this, a lot more Hindus will come to India from Pakistan.”
Sodha, who got Indian citizenship in 2016, said they are looking to intensify their campaign ahead of this year’s Rajasthan assembly elections and the Lok Sabha polls next year.
“If the administration does not help, then I will convey this matter to the state and central leaders,” he added. “This will become a big issue in the elections.”
Sodha said they will keep raising their voice. “We will see what’s going to happen. If nothing happens, then I will walk to Delhi from Barmer. Perhaps only then the sound will reach the ears of the leaders sitting in Delhi,” he added.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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