‘More than a decade of waiting’: Hindu refugees from Pakistan after center moves to CAA

CAA passed in December 2019 (document)

New Delhi:

Pakistani Hindu refugees living in Delhi on Monday expressed hope and happiness over the implementation of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, saying they were happy “that we are finally called citizens of India”.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Center announced the implementation of the controversial CAA 2019 to grant citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.

Dharamveer Solanki, the head of Delhi’s Pakistani Hindu refugee community, told PTI that around 500 people from the community will now be granted citizenship.

“My family and I have been waiting for this moment for over a decade. We are extremely happy that we can now finally be called citizens of India. I am glad that I decided to return to my home country in 2013,” Mr Solanki said.

“It feels like a huge burden has been lifted off our shoulders. With the implementation of this bill, around 500 Pakistani Hindu refugee families living here will get citizenship,” Solanki told PTI.

With the notification of CAA rules, the Modi government will now start granting Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim immigrants from the above-mentioned countries. These include Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians.

The CAA was passed in December 2019 and subsequently received the presidential assent, but was met with protests in several parts of the country.

The law cannot take effect because the rules have not yet been published.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)