Eighteen Pakistani Hindu refugees who were residing in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad have been granted Indian citizenship during a camp attended by Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi.
The 18 refugees were conferred Indian citizenship by Sanghvi at the camp organised at the district collector’s office on Saturday. The minister urged the refugees to work together and realise the dream of a new India, reported PTI.
“It is expected that all of you will be determined to participate in the development journey of the country,” Sanghvi said, adding that the central and state governments were committed to bringing all those who have obtained Indian citizenship to the society’s mainstream.
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Under the gazette notification of 2016 and 2018, the district collectors Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, and Kutch in Gujarat have the power to grant Indian citizenship to people of minority communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, according to an official release.
With the latest addition, the total number of Hindu refugees from Pakistan residing in Ahmedabad district who have been granted Indian citizenship so far has reached 1,167, Sanghavi said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have made special efforts for the suffering minorities of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh to get Indian citizenship easily and quickly.
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The Centre on March 11 announced the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, paving the way for citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Under the law, the Modi government aims to start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants — Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians — from the three countries.
