After four months of a shocking mass suicide of 11 members of a Pakistani Hindu migrant family in Jodhpur (Rajasthan) on August 09, 2020, it seems conditions have not improved for the migrants who had come with the dreams of permanent residency in India and a blissful life. Instead, they were caught in a web of un-imagined miseries of official labyrinth and exploitation by local agents. The agents are blamed to treat young women as their prey for some legal help.
This family reached India in 2015. Before their migration, they had been living a respectful life in Sindh (Pakistan). The members of the family were proactive in local and national politics. No report mentioned any “anti-minority persecution” against them. The family was living on Long Term Visa (LTV) here, but have lost hope of respectable life. The economic hardship and inhuman handling pushed them to the wall. The mental and physical agony ultimately forced them to take a very sad step of ending their lives. (Detailed report: Radiance 7-11 Oct 2019)
MIGRANTS BACK HOME
Recently the entanglement for livelihood and official maze to get residency had forced a group of Pakistani Hindu migrants living here on LTV. They had come with big dreams, but encountered non-sympathy and political lip-service. As reported by Economic Times, a group of 243 Pakistani nationals, including Hindu and Sikh migrants returned to Pakistan via Wagah Check-post on Thursday, (December 3). The ET reported, “A batch of Pakistani Hindu and Sikh refugees living in India on LTV will head back, giving up on their dreams of acquiring Indian citizenship. They faced financial hardships.”
While granting “no objection” for their “exit”, the Union Home Ministry noted, “Pak nationals who are staying in India on LTV or whose application for grant of LTV is under consideration are required to obtain exit permit from the FRRO/FRO concerned.”
Sridhar, a 37-year-old refugee, who was among the group, had migrated four years back from District Umerkot (Sindh). Before his exit back to his native country, he reportedly said, “For the past four years, I have been running to FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office) in Jodhpur and Home Ministry in New Delhi to get visas for my wife and children. But now I have given up and want to go back.”
Another migrant, Mithun, who chose to go back to Pakistan, said, “We had come to India in search of better livelihood. For the past one year, we have been trying to get LTV but to no avail.” Mithun has migrated from Hyderabad (Sindh). Disillusioned Mithun said, “My family is facing financial trouble. We have now decided to go back.”
BIASED MEDIA
For the plight of these Pakistani Hindu migrants, biased media blamed the non-implementation of CAA, an unethical and unconstitutional showpiece of law. CAA promised instant Indian citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who purportedly faced “religious persecution” and arrived in India by December 31, 2014. It may be pointed out that none of the migrants had a history of “religious” persecution and cannot be counted under this law.
In fact, the contentious law does not provide solutions for granting Citizenship to migrants. It is just a political gimmick. Laws and rules to grant citizenship to non-Indians already exist without any prejudice on the ground of religion or progeny. Under existing rules, the Rajasthan government had granted Indian citizenship to 21 Pakistani Hindu migrants in November 2019 (ANI). In July 2019, MoS, (Home) Nityanand Rai had informed the Lok Sabha that a total of “1,310 migrants had been granted citizenship in Districts of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, and Jaipur (Rajasthan)”.
In granting citizenship to migrants, the controversial CAA comes nowhere in the picture, which was pushed through Parliament with great hue and cry in December 2019. This Act seeks to relax the requirement of residence in India for citizenship from 11 years to 5 years. This modification in the rules is easy to be introduced by a GoI order.
CAA AGAINST INDIANNESS
The CAA seeks to grant Indian citizenship to ‘legal migrants’ belonging to six non-Muslim minority communities, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, who entered on a valid visa on or before December 31, 2014. The world history of refugees shows ‘persecuted’ people do not migrate with passport and visa in hand. Existing Citizenship Law since 1952 has provisions to grant citizenship without religious or progeny discrimination. Actually, provisions of CAA are bound to destroy the magnanimity of Indian cultural traditions for thousands of years. As prominent Hindu religious scholar Vivekananda had put at the First World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago, back on September 11, 1893: “I am proud to belong to a region/religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance.… I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth.”
One hundred twenty-seven years ago these observations catapulted Vivekananda to great respect and fame. But the law brought in by the people who reverently bow to his replicas is diametrically opposite and blatant denial of his ideals. Rejection of a religion and a religious community, living in unison with the people of this nation for centuries, is against the tradition of the land. The CAA identifies “persecuted people” by their religion. This is the baseline which makes “CAA” against the soul and heart of this great nation as underlined by Vivekananda Ji.
HARASSMENT ACKNOWLEDGED
Government officials have acknowledged: “In some cases of migrants, harassment and corruption during field verification have come to light, adding to their woes.” Officials said that many Pakistani refugees living in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Delhi on LTV have applied for exit-permit as they are now fed up and are willing to go back to their native places.”
In all 243 Pakistani nationals, including those stranded, were scheduled to return Pakistan because of lockdown. Their movement is facilitated in coordination with the respective embassies. An official said, “For Pakistani nationals, we have facilitated their movement by road. All returning Pakistani nationals will be screened as per international norms and health protocols at the Integrated Check Post.”
WELCOME STEP
We welcome the Government action in allowing willing migrants back home in co-ordination with Pakistani authorities. In the atmosphere of unfriendly utterance and blame games, this action looks like a silver lining to ease the hardship of disillusioned migrants and permit them back home.
[The writer is Chairman Forum for Civil Rights. Email: syyedagha8@gmail.com]