45 Pak nationals granted Indian citizenship after yrs

45 Pak nationals granted Indian citizenship after yrs

Pune: About 45 persons who had moved years ago from Pakistan to India received Indian citizenship which was approved by District Collector Naval Kishore Ram. 

It was a moment of joy for these people as they raised slogans of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ after receiving the citizenship certificate. Speaking on the issue, Ram said these people have suffered a lot for many years and so it becomes our duty to solve their problem at the earliest. Most of them were trying to get Indian citizenship for years.

“Each of these 45 citizens has a touching story to tell. Most of the applicants are Sindhis and we tried our best to speed up the process,” said Ram. 

“Most of the applications have been processed by us and a few are pending due to technical formalities. The district administration is trying its best to ensure that such applicants get the citizenship as early as possible,” he added.  

These people had been trying to acquire Indian citizenship for many years. They maintained that the situation in Pakistan has been continuously bad. In some of these cases, the family members of these people had already been staying in India.

Speaking about the citizenship, Balasaheb Runwal, President of ‘Mere Apne’ organisation which is helping such people get citizenship said, “These people have to face a lot of issues and have to keep on extending their visas. We are thankful to the administration for helping us.”

One of the applicants, Mahendra Panjwani said he came to India 12 years ago, after he was harassed in Pakistan. 

“In India we felt safe. I was taking a follow-up of my application for Indian citizenship for last two years and finally we received it. In a real sense we got our Independence now,” added Panjwani.

In 2016, the Centre had decentralised the process of issuing citizenship to the members of minority communities such as Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

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