Betrayed by India: No Country for Pakistani Hindu Refugees

He says “It has been 13 years but I still don’t have Indian citizenship. My papers have come back a dozen times. They want proof of my father’s date of birth and birthplace. My father is dead: my mother is with me but we do not have all the papers.”

This isn’t unusual. Rajya Sabha MP Avinash Rai Khanna pointed out that more than 3,500 families who immigrated to Jammu in 1947 have still not received citizenship.

As they’re not Indian citizens, refugees are still subject to the same restrictions as other Pakistanis, with no ration card, driver’s license, and right to buy property, gas connection or travel within the country. Jamuna Devi says “When our children fall ill, the government hospitals refuse to give us medicines, saying we are Pakistanis,” as reported by First Post.

Most of them are forced to live a hand-to-mouth situation, an uncertain existence dependent on the whims of the Indian and Pakistani authorities. Furthermore to remain in the country, they have to get their Indian visa extended over and again, and renew their passport – which now the Pakistani consulate insists they do on an annual basis.

The hope for citizenship continues to be dim for theses refugees. Of the 148 applications received just from Punjab (in Pakistan) between 2009 and 2011, only 16 were accepted, while119 were stuck in the middle of nowhere due to inadequate documents. Furthermore 13 had been rejected. Adding to this an “active policy of discouragement” made it extremely difficult and expensive for Pakistani Hindus to secure a visa, and the message from the Indian state became clear- We don’t want you. And neither seemingly does Pakistan, where minorities have become an easy target in a climate of extremism.