Eighteen Hindu refugees from Pakistan residing in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad have been granted Indian citizenship.
The Indian citizen to Pakistan refugees was given during a camp attended by Gujarat minister of state for home Harsh Sanghavi, PTI reported.
At least 1,167 refugee Hindus who were staying in Gujarat reportedly have been awarded citizenship by the Ahmedabad District Collectorate.
At the camp Sanghavi conferred Indian citizenship to the 18 persons and urged them to work together to realise the dream of a new India, the report said.
"It is expected that all of you will be determined to participate in the development journey of the country," he was quoted as saying.
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He as per the report also said the central and state governments were committed to bringing all those who have obtained Indian citizenship to the society's mainstream.
According to the official communiqué, Gazette notifications of 2016 and 2018 empower the district collectors of Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Kutch in Gujarat to grant Indian citizenship to people of minority communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
It added with this, a total of 1,167 Hindu refugees from Pakistan residing in Ahmedabad district have so far been granted Indian citizenship.
Sanghavi also said 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, it mentioned.
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On March 11, the Union government announced implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, paving the way for citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
With this, the BJP led government aims to start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from the three countries.
