Hindu refugees from Pakistan narrate their harrowing tales
June 11, 2023
  • Circulation
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
Organiser
  • ‌
  • Bharat
  • World
  • G20
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • More
    • Defence
    • RSS in News
    • Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav
    • My States
    • Vocal4Local
    • Business
    • Special Report
    • Culture
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Obituary
    • Podcast
SUBSCRIBE
No Result
View All Result
  • ‌
  • Bharat
  • World
  • G20
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • More
    • Defence
    • RSS in News
    • Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav
    • My States
    • Vocal4Local
    • Business
    • Special Report
    • Culture
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Obituary
    • Podcast
No Result
View All Result
Organiser
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • G20
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Culture
  • Defence
  • RSS in News
  • My States
  • Vocal4Local
  • Subscribe
Home General

Hindu refugees from Pakistan narrate their harrowing tales

Archive Manager by WEB DESK
Oct 15, 2012, 12:00 am IST
in General
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterTelegramEmail

Lokpal Sethi in Jaipur
DUE to continuous repression of minorities, particularly  the Hindus, a fresh exodus of Hindus from  Sindh province of Pakistan has started. They are arriving  by Thar Express, a biweekly train between the two countries  on  Munnabao-Khokhrapar route.
Though most of them have come on  pilgrim visas, which allows them to visit three Hindu  religious places in India during one month visa period, they  are camping in Jodhpur. Soon after the  arrival of biggest group of 171 pilgrims in the first week of September, its leader Chetan Das, made it known that they have no plan to go back to Pakistan. They have made the local Dali Bai temple premises as  their home, till administration  provides them camps to stay in the Gangana locality of the  city.  Chetan Das and some other members  organised a rally to highlight their plight in Pakistan  and met Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to take up their case with the Central government  to allow them to stay in India even after the expiry of their visas.
Presently they are being looked after by  volunteers of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Seemant Lok Sangthan (SLS). But they do not want to  live on the mercy of these organisations for long. “Let the administration provide us a shelter, we would take any job  to earn bread and butter for our families with  honour,” says  Chetan Das, who was a Sarpanch in his village in Mitayari region of Sindh province.  Before Partition of the country people from western Rajasthan  used to go and settle in Sindh. Most of them were agriculture  labourers working for the landlords of the areas.
According to a rough estimate, the number of Hindus in Pakistan is about  twenty lakh and  about more then half of them are living in Umerkot (previously  known as Amarkot), where Sodha Rajput royal family still lives. Though this area has a good number of Rajputs, others belong to Naiks and other Dalit communities .  “These poor people are the target of fundamentalists. The members of fundamentalist outfits  often Kidnap their young girls, convert them to Islam many them off to local Muslims youths. This  has been going for the past several decades,” says Hindu Singh Sodha, convener of SLS, who for the past three decades is taking cases of Hindus from Pakistan, who are arriving in India with intentions not to go back to Pakistan.
No attention is being paid to the complaints of Hindu families who are victims of Muslim fundamentalists. According to Sodha,  exodus of Hindus from Sindh province to Rajasthan started  after the 1965 war between two countries . “Atrocities on poor Hindu families left no option for them but to come to India”, says Sodha.
At that time there was no fence on the international border and crossing the border illegally was not difficult in this  desert part of the region. Hindus used to just walk down to Barmer and Jaisalmer area without any  travel documents  For years they ran from pillar to post  either to get  long term visas or Indian citizenship. In absence of any policy for these legal and illegal  Hindu migrants from Pakistan, they remained stateless persons for decades.
“ If under the International Charter,   government of India can give refugee status to people of Tamil origin from Sri Lanka, why  can’t the same be applied to the Hindus coming from Pakistan. Like Tamilians  from Sri Lanka, these Hindus had left their country (Pakistan) because of  atrocities on them. In 1971 about three  crore people from erstwhile East Pakistan crossed over India and they were looked after by the government of India by giving the status of refugees under the International  Charter,” says Onkar Singh Lakhawat, senior BJP leader and former Rajya Sabha Member.
According to official figures since  1965 about 1.25 lakh Hindus from Pakistan had reached Rajasthan. Most of them got Indian citizenship or long term visas to live here permanently.
As  arrival of the Hindus from Pakistan  never stopped, during  BJP led NDA government  a major decision was taken to  give Indian citizenship to those  Hindu refugees who have been living here for the last seven years.
Over 13,000 displaced Hindus from Pakistan  in one stroke  got Indian citizenship  in 2005. SLS and senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who belongs to Jodhpur,  played a major role in granting Indian citizenship to these displaced Hindus.
Many of them missed the bus at that time as they had not completed the mandatory seven year period.
  Many of them  who could not fulfill seven-year stay conditions   had to wait  for nearly ten years. Following the policy of NDA government, Central government in September invited applications from those displaced Hindus from Pakistan  who are living here for the past seven years.
So far, about 7,000 have applied to get Indian citizenship. With the completion of the formalities, they are hoping to become Indian citizens by this Diwali.
But  there would be another 3,000 to 4,000 who would not be able to get Indian citizenship in the absence of seven year stay as  they are not eligible to apply for Indian citizenship. “This seven years condition should be relaxed or done away with,” says Sodha and others who are fighting for the cause of these displaced Hindus from Pakistan.

ShareTweetSendShareSend
Previous News

Congress govt is negligent to people suffering from natural disasters

Next News

Vadra’s wealth, Congress in turmoilIs Sonia family getting its just desserts, finally?

Related News

Study finds pre-teen girls who consume fruit juice have healthier diets with no negative weight effects

Study finds pre-teen girls who consume fruit juice have healthier diets with no negative weight effects

PM Modi to inaugurate the first-ever National Training Conclave

PM Modi to inaugurate the first-ever National Training Conclave

Here’s why Canada is sending back over 700 students from Punjab

Here’s why Canada is sending back over 700 students from Punjab

How Cultural Marxism has emerged as a New Age Threat to Bharat’s Internal Security

How Cultural Marxism has emerged as a New Age Threat to Bharat’s Internal Security

Jabalpur: National-level baseball player Sanjana Barkade commits suicide due to ‘Love Jihad’

Jabalpur: National-level baseball player Sanjana Barkade commits suicide due to ‘Love Jihad’

Hindumisia.ai Report 2022: AI analyses anti-Hindu ecosystem; lists 50 Twitter accounts propagating anti-Hindu sentiment

Hindumisia.ai Report 2022: AI analyses anti-Hindu ecosystem; lists 50 Twitter accounts propagating anti-Hindu sentiment

Comments

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Organiser. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.

Latest News

Study finds pre-teen girls who consume fruit juice have healthier diets with no negative weight effects

Study finds pre-teen girls who consume fruit juice have healthier diets with no negative weight effects

PM Modi to inaugurate the first-ever National Training Conclave

PM Modi to inaugurate the first-ever National Training Conclave

Here’s why Canada is sending back over 700 students from Punjab

Here’s why Canada is sending back over 700 students from Punjab

How Cultural Marxism has emerged as a New Age Threat to Bharat’s Internal Security

How Cultural Marxism has emerged as a New Age Threat to Bharat’s Internal Security

Jabalpur: National-level baseball player Sanjana Barkade commits suicide due to ‘Love Jihad’

Jabalpur: National-level baseball player Sanjana Barkade commits suicide due to ‘Love Jihad’

Hindumisia.ai Report 2022: AI analyses anti-Hindu ecosystem; lists 50 Twitter accounts propagating anti-Hindu sentiment

Hindumisia.ai Report 2022: AI analyses anti-Hindu ecosystem; lists 50 Twitter accounts propagating anti-Hindu sentiment

Odisha Train Accident – A conspiracy?

Odisha Train Accident – A conspiracy?

Gujarat High Court denies bail to Congress leader Afzal Lakhani for derogatory anti-India, anti-Modi Facebook posts

Gujarat High Court denies bail to Congress leader Afzal Lakhani for derogatory anti-India, anti-Modi Facebook posts

Jharkhand: Hindu girl commits suicide after Golu Ansari poses as Hindu, impregnated and forced her to convert to Islam

Jharkhand: Hindu girl commits suicide after Golu Ansari poses as Hindu, impregnated and forced her to convert to Islam

Auto Draft

Uttar Pradesh: Muslim offers namaz at a Hindu temple in Hapur arrested

  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Cookie Policy
  • Refund and Cancellation
  • Delivery and Shipping

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Business
  • RSS in News
  • My States
  • Vocal4Local
  • Special Report
  • Sci & Tech
  • Entertainment
  • Education
  • Books
  • Interviews
  • Travel
  • Health
  • Obituary
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Circulation
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Refund and Cancellation

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies