Noida:

Seema Haider, a Pakistani national, entered India illegally last year with her four children and now lives in Greater Noida. On Monday, she appreciated the Center’s move to notify the implementation rules of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Haider, who claims to have converted to Hinduism and is married to Greater Noida resident Sachin Meena, also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision and claimed that the CAA will help her obtain Indian citizenship.

Haider, however, will not be a direct beneficiary of the CAA, which has been passed by Parliament to provide fast-track citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014 identity.

“The Government of India has today implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in our country. We are very happy about it and congratulate the government for it. Indeed, Modi has done what he promised. I will continue to do so throughout my tenure. Thank them,” Haider said in a video message, standing with Sachin and three of her four children.

“On this happy occasion, I congratulate my brother Advocate AP Singh for the work he has done because now my citizenship related hurdles will also be removed with this law,” the Pakistani national said in his concluding remarks. Jai Shri Ram”. Radhe Radhe” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”.

Lawyer Singh also welcomed the Centre’s statement and said the decision will help people of different religions from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan facing citizenship-related issues in India.

“This is an important day for people who are persecuted in these countries and somehow make a living here (in India),” Singh said.

Last month, Seema Haider’s Pakistani husband, Ghulam Haider, hired an Indian lawyer to seek custody of their four children.

Seema, who is from Jacobabad in Pakistan’s Sindh province, left her home in Karachi with her children in May last year and traveled to India via Nepal. She made headlines in July when Indian authorities discovered she was living in Greater Noida with Indian national (now her husband) Sachin Meena.

The Center on Monday implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, announcing the rules four years after Parliament passed the contentious law aimed at providing benefits to immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India who came to India before December. Afghanistan’s undocumented non-Muslim immigrants to receive fast-track citizenship 31, 2014.

With the rules announced just days before the Lok Sabha elections are announced, the Modi government will now start providing immigration to persecuted non-Muslims — Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians — —Grant Indian citizenship. Three countries. According to a gazette notification, the rules come into effect immediately.

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