The Rajasthan government has granted Indian citizenship to 34 Pakistani migrant Hindus living in 3 districts in Rajasthan. Recently, additional chief secretary (home) Rajeeva Swarup has informed that in the month of June, 34 Pakistani Hindu migrants were granted citizenship by the government.

As per reports, many of these Hindus have been living in India for over a decade. The group includes 19 people from Barmer, 10 from Pali and 5 from Jalore district in Rajasthan.

In Barmer, district collector Himanshu Gupta and additional district collector Rakesh Kumar Sharma had handed over the certificates of citizenship to the 19 Hindu migrants at the conference hall in the collectorate on last Wednesday.

The collector also asked the new citizens to get their names registered in the voters’ list to avail all facilities extended to the citizens of India.

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As per reports, from January 2019 to June 17, 2019, as many as 79 displaced Pakistani Hindus have been granted Indian citizenship. Previously, in March, 44 migrant Pakistani Hindus were granted citizenship in Rajasthan. Of the 44 people, 12 were from Barmer, 15 from Udaipur, 11 from Pali, and 06 were from Jalore district.

Hindus in Pakistan are subjected to blatant injustice, persecution and forced conversions. Every week, many Hindu families board the Thar express under Indian visa and travel to India, never to go back again. At present, there are hundreds of Pakistani Hindu families living in several areas in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

As per reports, the migrant Hindus from Pakistan have to go through an extensive and long process to be eligible for Indian citizenship. The reports by the Intelligence Bureau and state CID are necessary to initiate the process. Passport expiry and visa validity periods are also crucial.

Many of the Pakistani Hindus often live in temporary camps and earn a meagre living by selling from carts. Even the educated Hindu migrants fail to secure jobs because of the lack of necessary documents.