Jodhpur (Rajasthan): The Narendra Modi-led government on Monday issued a notification for the implementation of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019. The CAA was passed in December 2019 in Parliament and subsequently got the President's assent, but protests were launched across the country against it, with many opposition parties speaking against the law calling it "discriminatory". The law could not come into effect as rules had not been notified till now.
This act grants citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who arrived in India before December 31, 2014. The Hindu migrants, who came from Pakistan after being persecuted and are living in western Rajasthan, including Jodhpur, will also benefit from this.
Hindu Singh Sodha, President, of Seemant Lok Sanghatan, which works for Pakistani Hindu migrants, says that with this provision, citizenship will be available in six years instead of seven years and we welcome it. "We had suggested that there should be no time restriction in this, because even after December 31, 2014, thousands of people have come back from Pakistan after being tortured," Sodha reminded.
"In such a scenario, provisions will have to be made to give citizenship to those who arrived in India from January 1, 2015, till date. For such people, the pain of getting entangled in the long process of citizenship will not end. It is necessary to create a permanent mechanism to end this. If the government wishes, it can make provisions in its rules while implementing it," he added.
It is understood that currently, about 35,000 Pakistani migrant Hindus are living without citizenship in Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Barmer areas alone. According to the Seemant Lok Sanghatan, the number of people, who came to these areas before December 31, 2014, is around 15,000, who will get the direct benefit of CAA.
According to Sodha, the process of citizenship is not so easy. "There is also a provision of seven years for those Paksitani migrants whose ancestors were born in India and migrated to Pakistan. Apart from this, one has to wait for 12 years. The truth is that after coming to India, due to the long legal and paper process, it is taking 15 to 20 years to get citizenship," he claimed.
These days, Hindus coming from Pakistan on religious pilgrimage via the Wagah Border, after going to Haridwar, come straight to Jodhpur or Jaisalmer. In Jodhpur, people live in huts in areas like Chaukha and Kali Bairi. They survive on daily wage labour and later move to other settlements. Hundreds of such families can be seen living in huts near Rajiv Gandhi Nagar.
