Gujarat: More than 100 Hindu refugees from Pakistan get Indian citizenship

Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad district authorities on Tuesday granted Indian citizenship to 108 Hindu refugees from Pakistan who have been living here after arriving in India.

Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi handed them citizenship certificates at the district collector’s office, said a state government release.

The refugees, who had migrated to India years ago, thanked Sanghavi and the district authorities for the speedy processing of their applications for citizenship, it said.

Sanghavi congratulated them for becoming Indian citizens and urged them to commit themselves “to build a new India,” it added.

Both the state and the central government were committed to help refugees in all possible ways and bring them into the mainstream of society, the minister added.

So far, 1,149 Pakistani Hindus have been awarded Indian citizenship by the Ahmedabad District Collectorate, Sanghvi said.

Gazette notifications of 2016 and 2018 empower the district collectors of Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Kutch in Gujarat to grant Indian citizenship to the people of minority communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, said the release.