Gagandeep Singh

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 1

Many Hindu families that migrated to India from Pakistan years ago have been seeking Indian nationality for long. There are around 200 such families living in different localities of Jalandhar. Despite applying for the Indian nationality several times, they have failed to get it.

Some migrants said they would prefer to get shot in India than go back to Pakistan.

A delegation of such families today met Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, and submitted their memorandum of demands to him.

Speaking to Jalandhar Tribune, Raj Kumar (35) said he came to India with his family in 1998. Before that he was living in Boh Bhatiyan town of Sialkot in Pakistan.

He said he had a Pakistani passport that had been renewed once. After that, he decided not to renew his passport, as he did not have enough money for passport renewal.

“Since 1998, my family has been applying for Indian visa every two years. We have no money for applying for passport renewal over and over,” he said, adding that he along with other such people had applied for the Indian nationality several times. Apart from this, they have submitted their memorandum to officials a number of times, but to no avail.

He said in Pakistan, they were forced to embrace Islam. But they didn’t want to do that. There were a few Hindus where they used live. “All our relatives came to India in 1971. Whosoever has relatives in India prefers to come to India. Our family had relatives here. Therefore, we came to India. Many of us have already got ration cards. Many others have been struggling to get that too,” he added.

Living in the Bhargo Camp locality in a rented accommodation with five members of his family, he said he had two school-going kids, who sometimes face numerous problems in schools due to lack of nationality.

Speaking about her plight in Pakistan, Raj Kumari said, “They (Muslims) always ask us to go to India as we are Hindus. They ask why didn’t we go to India during Partition. I have been living in Jalandhar for seven years. My boy is studying in a school, where he has been asked for identity proof like Aadhar card. We have been facing many such issues. Kids who have been born here don’t have Indian nationality.”

“Many of our relatives have died, hoping to get Indian nationality. We will never go to Pakistan. We are ready to face any condition here. My sister has been married to a person with Indian nationality, yet she has not got Indian nationality. We cannot even apply for government jobs,” added Ashok Kumar who has been living in Jalandhar for 15 years.