Hindu Refugees

Hindu and Sikh Refugees Among 243 Nationals Who Will Return to Pakistan

The refugees are going back to Pakistan as they continue to face “financial hardships” in India.

New Delhi: A group of 243 Pakistani nationals, including several Hindu and Sikh refugees, who have been given permission to return, will be going back to Pakistan as they continue to face “financial hardships” in India, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

A batch of Pakistani Hindu and Sikh refugees living in India will go back on Thursday, “giving up on their dreams of acquiring Indian citizenship in the face of financial hardships”, The Economic Times reported.

The refugees are among 243 Pakistani nationals, including many stranded in India due to COVID-19 pandemic, who have been given permission to travel via Wagah border on Thursday.

“For the past four years, I have been running to FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office) Jodhpur and home ministry in New Delhi to get visas for my wife and children. I have given up now and want to go back,” a 37-year-old refugee, Shreedhar told ET.

Another refugee, Mithoon, who was from Hyderabad city in Sindh province stated that they came to India in “search of better livelihood”. “For the past one year, we have been trying to get LTV (long term visa) but to no avail…My family is facing financial trouble due to lockdown and COVID-19. They have now decided to go back,” he said.

The article noted that the government had to yet notify the rules of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which was passed in December last year.

Under the CAA, non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have arrived in India before December 31, 2014, will be allowed to get Indian citizenship on a fast-track basis.

“Officials said applications from Pakistani refugees wishing to go back have been received mainly from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi. In some cases, harassment and corruption during field verification have come to light, adding to the woes of the refugees, said people aware of the matter,” noted the report.

Home Ministry Shelves Rs 200-Crore Relief Package for J&K’s West Pakistan Refugees

The Centre has said it has not received “authentic claims” from the state.

Jammu: Saying it did not receive authentic claims, the Union home ministry has shelved a Rs 200-crore package for the relief and rehabilitation of West Pakistan refugees living in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir since 1947.

As per the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Hindus and other minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh will have special citizenship rights in India. But West Pakistan refugees – almost entirely Hindus and Sikhs – living in Jammu and Kashmir since 1947 without property rights and voting rights in the assembly elections up until August 5, 2019 have now lost their relief package, on account of unavailable documents.

This admission was made by the Union home ministry before the Rajya Sabha’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs. The committee, in its 224th report on the Union home ministry’s demand for grants for the year 2020-2021, had asked the MHA why there was a decrease in the allocation of funds for the relief and rehabilitation of West Pakistan refugees.

The MHA responded by saying that the decrease in allocation in revised estimates 2019-20 over budget estimates 2019-20 was due to a decrease in provision for assistance to these families, as “authentic claims” had not been received.

Also read: A Refugee From Nazi Rule, This Architect Pioneered Efficient Homes in India

It added, “Authentic details of beneficiaries have not been finalised by the J&K Government under the scheme namely Financial Assistance to families of West Pakistan Refugees settled in J&K. Hence, BE 2019-20 allocation of Rs 200 crore has been reduced to a token amount of Rs.1.00 crore.” This comes at a time when these refugees have got citizenship rights in Jammu and Kashmir, which had been denied to them since the year 1947, when they first arrived here from West Pakistan.

These refugees anticipated that it would be smooth sailing for them now, after the dilution of Article 370 and abrogation of Article 35A. But allocation of funds for West Pakistan refugees was drastically decreased from Rs 200 crore to Rs 1 crore. These refugees claim that they are yet to receive any relief or rehabilitation from the Central government.

The reason given was the non-receipt of “authentic claims” from the state government of Jammu and Kashmir. This state government, within three months of announcement of the package, had started the procedure of issuing ‘identity certificates’. However, even after three years, families have not received the money because of mandatory document requirements.

“Previously, the state government wanted us to produce electoral rolls from 1951 and 1957 with our names even though elections here did not happen until 1967. Now with much difficulty, after months of struggle, we managed to get that formality scrubbed off,” said Labha Ram Gandhi, chairman of the West Pakistan Refugees Action Committee (WPRAC). The West Pakistan refugees had demanded the appointment of a relief commissioner who would address these issues and ensure disbursement of the compensation as soon as possible.

The application form for settlement of West Pakistani refugees.

But the application form for the settlement of West Pakistani refugees still mandatorily requires them to attach other documents, which are obtained with much difficulty or are impossible to acquire, such as a legal heir certificate and succession certificate, a copy of revenue record or any other reliable document corroborating the original place of habitation (from where the family had migrated in 1947 or soon thereafter).

“When these families left their homes, they were running for their lives. If they had stopped to gather documents, half of them would not have made it alive,” said Labha Ram. Another document which can be attached, as a replacement of the copy of revenue record, is a voter list relating to parliamentary elections of 1971 or 1975, in which they are listed as NPR (Non-Permanent Resident of the State) for exercising their franchise in the general elections.

“It becomes impossible for us to understand how this will help the state government differentiate between West Pakistani refugees and other people from Punjab or Odisha who have also been mentioned as NPR in the voter list,” Gandhi said.

On being asked the package being shelved, he said “I cannot believe it. I will have check with the concerned agencies. Previously, we were worried as to how we will arrange the documents required, and now the situation has gone from bad to worse.” He said that the struggle would continue till the time West Pakistani refugees do not get their due share.

As per the report of the Wadhwa Committee of 2007, constituted by the government of J&K, around 5,764 families consisting of 47,215 persons migrated from West Pakistan and got settled mainly in different areas of Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri districts of Jammu. No land was allotted to them by the state government. However, these families had occupied 45,466 kanals of land (state land worth 10,478 kanals, evacuee land including other types of land of 25,976 kanals and other land of 10,012 kanals) which was allowed to be retained by them, even though they weren’t given titles, because of their NPR status.

Also read: India Needs a Proper Refugee Law, Not a CAA Suffused With Discriminatory Intent

They were allowed to keep land up to 12 acres of khushki (unirrigated) land or eight acres of aibi (irrigated) land. As a result, 46,466 kanals of land stands retained by these refugees under Cabinet Order No. 578-C of 1954. Gandhi claims that during the last 72 years, the number of these families has gone up and there are now about one lakh people. Ninety percent of these refugees are Hindus and 10% are Sikhs.

Many West Pakistanis moved to Punjab or other states and enjoyed all the rights of being Indian citizens, but since Sheikh Abdullah stopped them from moving out of Jammu and Kashmir and promised to grant them citizenship rights, many families remained in Jammu and Kashmir. The West Pakistani refugees settled in Jammu and Kashmir are very much the citizens of India. They had the right to vote in the parliamentary elections, but they did not enjoy voting rights to the state assembly and local bodies prior to August 5, 2019.

Though no formal order has been issued, legal experts opine that West Pakistani refugees are now residents of the state in terms of the Indian constitution. West Pakistani refugees families are now eligible to avail benefits of various social welfare schemes launched by the government, and members of their families can now seek government employment in the state, besides getting admissions in various professional colleges.

Only Modi Can Make Sure India Doesn’t Become ‘Another Islamic Country’, Says High Court Judge

Justice S.R. Sen of the Meghalaya high court also wants Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, Christians, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to be made Indian citizens without any questions.

While considering a petition relating to the refusal of domicile certificate to an army recruit, the Meghalaya high court on Monday observed that anybody opposing the Indian laws and the constitution cannot be considered as a citizen of this country.

The court also urged the Centre to bring in a legislation to allow citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, Christians, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, without any question or documents. Justice S.R. Sen directed Centre’s assistant solicitor general, Meghalaya high court, A. Paul to hand over a copy of the judgment to the Prime Minister, home minister and law minister for their perusal and necessary steps to bring in a law to safeguard the interest of these communities.

Also Read: India’s NRC is a Global Clarion Call for Understanding Identity Politics

“This Court expects that Government of India will take care of this judgment in the historical background and save this country and its people,” he observed.

Further, the government of Meghalaya was directed to follow the guidelines laid down by the court in Rabbe Alam v. State of Meghalaya & Ors. for grant of domicile certificates. The court reiterated that a person residing in the state of Meghalaya permanently or at least for the last five years has every right to receive a domicile certificate. As for issuance of a permanent resident certificate (PRC), it clarified that it should be granted to any person residing permanently in the state of Meghalaya for the last 12 years, without any further questions.

“However, if any doubt arises, the Deputy Commissioner may ask for a Police verification to determine how long he has been staying in this State and PRC cannot be issued only for education purpose but it should be applicable for all purposes. I make it further clear that domicile certificate or PRC is not meant only for joining the Army or Paramilitary Force or Education purposes, it is to be granted for all purposes,” it added.

Since partition was on the basis of religion, India should have been declared a Hindu country too: Justice Sen

Justice Sen began his judgement by tracing India’s partition and asserting that since the division was on the basis of religion, India should have been declared a Hindu country too.

He further lamented the treatment that has since been meted out to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, observing that “Even today, in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos are tortured and they have no place to go and those Hindus who entered India during partition are still considered as foreigners, which in my understanding is highly illogical, illegal and against the principle of natural justice.”

The court then appealed to the prime minister, home minister, law minister and members of the parliament to pass a law allowing Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist, Parsis, Christians, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to be allowed to become citizens without production of any documents.

“Original Indians” being left out of the NRC process

As for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process being undertaken in the state of Assam, Justice Sen was of the view that the process is defective “as many foreigners become Indians and original Indians are left out which is very sad”. The judge noted that the detention camp in Assam was housing people in inhuman conditions, and appealed to the Hindu people of the Barak Valley and the Assam Valley to come to an amicable solution “because our culture, traditions and religions are same”.

Also Read: The NRC Process and the Spectre of Statelessness in India

He then showed faith in the Modi government to protect India from becoming another Islamic country. “I make it clear that nobody should try to make India as another Islamic country, otherwise it will be a doomsday for India and the world. I am confident that only this Government under Shri. Narendra Modiji will understand the gravity and will do the needful as requested above and our Chief Minister Mamataji will support the national interest in all respect,” he remarked.

This article was first published on LiveLaw. Read the original here.

Photo Essay: Inside Rohingya Muslim and Hindu Refugee Camps in Bangladesh

Every day, thousands of refugees are seen in long queues at the relief centres near the camps.

Children playing at a camp of Hindu refugees in Kutupalong.

Thousands of Rohingya Muslims and Hindus from Myanmar, fleeing from their homes in Rakhine state, have been arriving to the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh since the last two months. The current wave of forced migration from Rakhine is the fourth and undoubtedly, the largest. While the Hindus have taken shelter at Kutupalong, the Muslim refugees have been lodged at several camps in Ukhia and Teknaf. My images are from the camps at Kutupalong, Balukhali and Nayapara.

According to estimates, 600-1000 Hindus have arrived from Rakhine. Women and children have been lodged together at temporary shelters, as huts are being built for every family.

A global voluntary organisation named United Sikhs distributing food to the Hindu refugees in Kutupalong.

United Sikhs has been providing emergency relief supplies such as plastic sheets, water and food to the Rohingyas and Hindus ever since the crisis erupted. The organisation receives funds from institutions and individuals across the world. Their largest establishment for providing relief to the Rohingya is at Bandarban in Bangladesh. Another voluntary organisation offering relief to the Hindus is Al Furqan, with most of its functionaries arriving from India.

A hut of bamboo and tarpaulin being erected for a Hindu family in Kutupalong.

Plans are underway to provide a hut for every family at the earliest. Besides the relief material provided by the government and voluntary organisations, local Buddhist residents have also pitched in to assist the refugees by providing bamboo and other items for building the huts.

A muddied and swampy pathway through paddy fields leads to a sprawling settlement of thousands of huts where many refugees have been sheltered. Unlike most other camps, the camp in Balukhali is spacious and plans to erect more huts for accommodating more refugees from Rakhine are underway.

The entrance to a camp at Balukhali where thousands of Muslim refugees have settled.

Refugees wait for accommodation at a camp in Kutupalong.

Many people have been arriving by boat from Rakhine at Shah Porir Dip on the Naf river in Teknaf. While some groups are brought to the camps by vehicles, others walk all the way to these settlements. Many groups of women and children were seen along the roadside jungle on the banks of the Naf river ahead of the Nayapara camp.

Inside a hut at a camp in Balukhali.

Huts at the settlement in Balukhali were relatively bigger than those in Kutupalong and Nayapara.

A mosque at the Nayapara Camp.

Hundreds gather for prayers at the mosques in the camp. Clerics command a great deal of influence and support among the populace, and their diktats are hardly disobeyed. Sometimes, they also step in to resolve disputes among the people.

Shops selling a wide range of items including cellular phones and grocery have emerged at the Nayapara camp. However, the shopkeepers complained that business is “below expectation” since many people here are poor. The people at this camp have established sources of income besides the monthly stipend and relief offered by the government and humanitarian agencies.

Children watching a Bollywood movie at the Nayapara camp.

Watching Bollywood movies is a favourite pastime among many, especially the children. People gather in large numbers to watch movies at the few shops that have installed television sets.

A man in Balukhali camp who was shot twice in Rakhine. The wound on his arm had healed but he complained of severe pain on the ankle which seemed to be getting worse every day.

Every day, thousands of refugees are seen in long queues at the relief centres established near the camps. Sometimes, the daily ration distributed by the government and the humanitarian agencies (like World Food Programme) gets exhausted and the inmates have to wait for hours for the next stock to arrive. On certain occasions, snatching of relief items has also been reported at some locations.

Refugees waiting for relief near a camp at Kutupalong.

The two children were tied with ropes for two hours after being caught sliding down a small mound into a pit of dirty water at the Nayapara camp. Last year, two children drowned after they plunged deep into the ditch.

All photos by Rajeev Bhattacharyya

Myanmar’s Hindu Refugees Hope for Shelter in Modi’s India

The Hindu refugees say they are scared of going back to their villages in Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s restive Rakhine State, but also wary of staying in mostly Muslim Bangladesh.

A Hindu family is seen at a shelter near Maungdaw, Rakhine State, Myanmar September 12, 2017. Credit: Reuters/Stringer/File Photo

Kutupalong, Bangladesh/New Delhi: Caught in the crossfire between Myanmar‘s military and Rohingya insurgents, hundreds of Hindus who have fled to Bangladesh are placing their hopes on the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in neighbouring India.

Nearly 500 are sheltered in a cleared-out chicken farm in a Hindu hamlet in Bangladesh’s southeast, a couple of miles from where most of the 421,000 Rohingya Muslims who have also fled violence in Myanmar since August 25th are living in makeshift camps.

The Hindu refugees say they are scared of going back to their villages in Buddhist-majority Myanmar‘s restive Rakhine State, but also wary of staying in mostly Muslim Bangladesh.

Modi’s government, meanwhile, is making it easier for Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and other minorities from Bangladesh and Pakistan to gain citizenship in India.

Also read: Rohingya in India ‘Illegal’, a National Security Threat, Modi Government Says in Court Affidavit

“India is also known as Hindustan, the land of the Hindus,” said Niranjan Rudra, sitting on a plastic sheet in the chicken farm flanked by his wife, who sported a large vermilion red dot on her forehead typical of married Hindu women.

“We just want a peaceful life in India, not much. We may not get that in Myanmar or here,” he said. Fellow refugees nodded in agreement, stating that they wanted the message to reach the Indian government through the media.

The Indian government declined to comment on the Hindu refugees’ hopes. A government source said it was waiting while the Supreme Court hears an appeal against the home ministry’s plans to deport around 40,000 Rohingya Muslims from the country.

But Achintya Biswas, a senior member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), or the World Hindu Council, which has close ties with the ideological parent of Modi’s ruling party, said India was the natural destination for the Hindus fleeing Myanmar.

“Hindu families must be allowed to enter India by the government,” Biswas said by phone. “Where else will they go? This is their place of origin.”

Biswas said the VHP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the umbrella group that mentors Modi’s ruling party, would submit a report to the home ministry on the refugees and demand a new policy allowing Hindus from Myanmar and Bangladesh to seek asylum in India.

The Hindu right who form the bedrock of Modi’s support have long believed India is the home for all Hindus.

India’s Home Ministry spokesman K.S. Dhatwalia declined to comment.

A senior home ministry official in New Delhi, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that no Hindu in Myanmar or Bangladesh affected by the violence had approached Indian authorities.

Also read: What Role Can India Play to Resolve the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis?

“At this juncture we have no SOS calls from Hindus,” said the official. “Also, the Supreme Court is yet to decide whether India should deport Rohingya Muslims or not. The matter is sub-judice and any policy decision will be taken only after the court’s order.”

“Want to feel safe”

Hindus make up a small but long-standing minority in both Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Refugee Rudra, a barber from Myanmar‘s Thit Tone Nar Gwa Son village, showed Reuters what he said was a temporary citizenship card issued in 1978 by the authorities there. The card listed his race as “Indian” and religion as “Hindu”.

Rudra and other Hindu refugees said they had fled soon after Rohingya insurgents attacked 30 Myanmar police posts, triggering a fierce military counteroffensive.

Since then, rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya say the army and Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes have mounted a campaign of arson aimed at driving out the Muslim population, leaving many villages in northern Rakhine empty.

“Our village in Myanmar was surrounded by hundreds of men in black masks on the morning of August 25th,” said Veena Sheel, a mother-of-two whose husband works in Malaysia.

“They called some men out and asked them to fight the security forces … a few hours after we heard gunshots.”

Also read: Rohingya Exodus the Fastest, Most Concentrated Refugee Movement in Asia Since 1971

Sheel left the next day with eight other women and their families, walking for two days to reach Bangladesh.

“There are so many people all around us. No peace here, no peace back in Myanmar,” said Sheel. “We should be taken to Hindustan, that’s our land. Wherever we stay, we want to feel safe.”

Since taking office in 2014, Modi’s government has issued orders stating that no Hindu or member of another minority from Pakistan or Bangladesh would be considered an illegal immigrant even if they entered the country without valid documents on or before December 31st, 2014.

It also plans to nearly halve the six years period Hindus, Christians and other minorities from those countries need to have lived in India to be granted citizenship by naturalisation.

“We are regularising only those who have come due to religious persecution in Bangladesh and Pakistan,” junior home minister Kiren Rijiju told Reuters last month, adding that there was no policy on refugees from Myanmar.

It will not be easy for secular India to accept the Myanmar Hindu refugees’ demand while the government is pushing for the deportation of Rohingya Muslims.

Modi’s government has already been criticised by activists for not speaking out against Myanmar‘s military offensive, and accused of vilifying the Rohingya in the country to seek legal clearance for their deportation.

Amending the Citizenship Act: The Modi Government Needs to Think Beyond Hindu Votes

If the religious persecution of minorities was the actual reason to grant them citizenship, why does the policy fail to acknowledge the persecution of minority Muslim groups in neighbouring countries like Myanmar and China?

If the religious persecution of minorities was the actual reason to grant them citizenship, why does the policy fail to acknowledge the persecution of minority Muslim groups in neighbouring countries like Myanmar and China?

Representational Image. Credit: Reuters

With the government set to release amendments to the Citizenship Act, 1955, to be tabled in the upcoming monsoon session of parliament, there is a need to delve critically into the political issues raised by the proposed changes.

Since 2014, the government has been working on facilitating granting Indian citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who have faced persecution in their home countries. The move to amend the Act comes in response to a 2012 petition by two NGOs, which pleaded that Hindu and other minorities who migrate to India from Bangladesh to escape religious persecution must not be bracketed with illegal migrants and sent back to that country under the Assam Accord. In 2013, the matter came up for hearing in the Supreme Court and became a national issue, with the bench observing that the problem of religious minorities coming from Bangladesh was not confined to Assam alone.

Making amendments to the Act became a major electoral plank during the 2014 general elections, as well as in the run up to the 2016 Assam assembly polls. In early 2015, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah declared that “some Hindus have come from Bangladesh due to religious disturbances. The BJP will give all of them citizenship once we come to power in Assam next year”.

Although this policy is meant to benefit religious minorities in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, it is mainly geared towards consolidating a Hindu organisational base for the BJP. This became apparent when the BJP refugee cell urged the government to expedite the Citizenship Amendment Bill for Hindu refugees and to start granting citizenship to them under Section 18 of the Act. Although international norms under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention accord refugee legitimacy to those fleeing their home countries due to humanitarian crisis, by targeting only Muslim-majority countries the government’s policy subverts the varied status of cross-border refugees. Moreover, the move comes under suspicion as India is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention.

If the BJP refugee cell’s proposal is accepted, it will close the doors to migrant minorities, including Hindus, who might want to enter India for reasons other than religious persecution, thereby facilitating the cell’s formation of a data-record and public opinion about ‘Islamic atrocities’ perpetrated on Hindus migrating from countries like Bangladesh.

The proposal is akin to Israel’s Law of Return that allows only migrant Jews to return and settle in Israel. The Law of Return is based on a model that clearly seeks to send out a message of aggressive, reactionary nationalism, which perceives itself to be under siege from other communities. It is a move that violates the policy of pluralism and co-existence on which the constitutional practice of the Indian polity is based.

The proposal is also polarising in its logic, since it also subverts the ground of religious persecution by specifically targeting the Muslims only. If the religious persecution of minorities was the actual reason to grant them citizenship, why does the policy fail to acknowledge the persecution being faced by minority Muslim groups, such as Ahmadiyas and even Shias? The move is in keeping with the government’s exclusivist foreign policy and will lead to further exacerbation of tensions in the region.

Besides, India is already on a sensitive footing with Pakistan in the aftermath of the botched-up joint Pathankot probe, and its quest to better its bilateral relations with Bangladesh and Afghanistan will not be helped by legalising a policy that institutionalises the status of these countries as religious aggressors. The policy would also violate the government’s own ‘neighbourhood first’ policy. If the protection of religious minorities is indeed the target of the proposed policy, why does it not target other neighbouring countries such as Myanmar and China, where, respectively, Muslim, and Muslim and Buddhist, minorities are persecuted?

While it is easy to stoke fires of nationalism through an agenda of facilitating citizenship for Hindu minorities, does the government have answers about the future it wants to ensure for these citizens? The answer remains fraught with dark corners. Currently, Hindus who flee widespread persecution from Pakistan suffer a new set of challenges in India, from having to establish their identity to struggling for a better life, with many of them living on minimum wages in refugee camps without any sanitation or infrastructural facilities. Beyond the populist changes targeted at electoral victories, the government needs to seriously think about ensuring future justice for the groups it mobilises, lest it risks losing their support altogether.

Garima Maheshwari is a researcher at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies.

In India’s Capital, Pakistani Refugees Find a Place They Can Call Home

A few Hindu families from Pakistan began to settle at Majnu ka Tila in 2011 and the process has continued. But how welcoming has their new home been?

Roopchandra sells sugar cane juice to earn his living. Credit: Mirza Arif Beg

New Delhi: The innumerable multicolored flags fluttering on terraces at Majnu ka Tila and the Tibetan colony in New Delhi near Kashmiri Gate signify the cultural and physical presence of a mini-Tibet. This colony, since long has been a home to Tibetan refugees who fled their homeland back in the 1960s and sought refuge here in New Delhi. While the rich culture of Tibetan food and garb dominate this colony, at a distance of not more than half a km reside Pakistani Hindu refugees in their shanties.

Hindu refugees

On an April afternoon, the sun is at its peak and the colony en route to Kashmiri Gate bus stand appears deserted. A Delhi Development Authority (DDA) board avows that the land belongs to the DDA and any kind of encroachment is prohibited. Spread over an area of few acres, this DDA land hosts close to one hundred shanties which accommodate hundred and twenty Hindu families from Pakistan.

Roopchandra, who recently acquired a new sugar cane machine seems absorbed in it and directs toward Mahadev Advani. On the way to Advani’s veranda, two giggling women talk as their buckets and utensils rest right beside them. The scorching afternoon wind strikes and you try to dodge it. Mahadev asks for a glass of water – a middle-aged, chubby woman brings water and sits at a distance, though without any veil and occasionally participates in the conversation.

In 2013, Advani and several others migrated from Pakistan citing a sacred visit to the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad as a reason to visit India and never returned to the land of their ancestors. “Our children were not learning anything about Hindu culture and tradition there. The medium of education was either Sindhi or Punjabi and that made us apprehensive all the more,” says Advani. We thought we might go extinct in the times to come, he adds.

Minority in Pakistan

Pakistan has a number of woes of its own. The Tehreek-e-Taliban, a terror group dominant in the northwestern part of Pakistan, has wrecked havoc on its own people and created a sense of trepidation in the entire country. Religious minorities, including the Ahmadiyas who were stripped of their Muslim identity by the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto regime and Hazaras have longed to be at peace but with little respite.

Farhanaz Ispahani, media advisor to the president of Pakistan from 2008-2012 in her book, Purifying the Land of the Pure: Pakistan’s Religious Minorities alludes to the longstanding miseries of minorities in Pakistan. She blames the successive regimes in Pakistan for having aggravated the problem. She refers to the dwindling population of minorities as “drip-drip genocide”.

However, the refugees at Majnu ka Tila do not mention this as one of the major reasons for leaving Pakistan. A few of them claim that such a situation never arose during their stay in Pakistan, while some others did mention hostility at the hands of extremists. “We were never forced to renounce our religion to convert to Islam. There are a few areas where this must have been practiced, but nobody forced us. They would just preach Islam,” says Laxman, pradhan (chief) of the colony at Majnu Ka Tila.

Baba (left) fled Pakistan in 2013 to evade persecution at the hands of extremists. He spends most of his time at home. Credit: Mirza Arif Beg

The year 2011 was a witness to the arrival of the first few Hindu families from Pakistan, which settled here at Majnu ka Tila and the process has continued since then. While the pradhan denied any instance of persecution at the hands Pakistanis, a frail Baba, who must be in his seventies, recounted his anguish vividly. “Sometimes they would just barge into our houses and molest our girls. They would beat us badly and run away with our possessions. The government had also turned a blind eye toward us. Nobody used to listen to us,” he laments.

Government promises

In 2015, the Kejriwal government had taken notice of the lack of basic necessities at this colony that continues to grow. The government arranged for drinking water and toilet facilities. An extra electricity generator has also been stationed to light this colony at night. Laxman, in his recent meet with Kejriwal had communicated the issues his colony faced on a daily basis. “Mosquitoes don’t let us sleep because Yamuna is around the corner. We had applied for a ration card long back. Almost eight months have passed, but we still have no idea, where it is and when it would be issued,” says Laxman.

Bollywood stars and gods placed beside each other on one of the walls at Majnu Ka Teela Hindu colony. Credit: Mirza Arif Beg

Moving deeper into the colony manifests the profoundly rooted affection it has not only for god, but also the tri-color. At one of the far ends of this colony exits a temple that is well endowed with the idols of Hanuman and other goddesses. An Indian and a saffron flag, one beneath the other, flap in the breeze to greet the visitors before they join their hands to pray before Hanuman. “We always had our temples within the precincts of our houses in Pakistan, but here we have everything in the open,” says Nanakram.

Indian and saffron flag flutter one beneath the other. Credit: Mirza Arif Beg

The refugees who left their property, houses and some of them even their families in a quest for better living in India have faced prejudice here as well. The police, on repeated occasions, have assaulted them and at times even seized their carts. “The police have beaten us in the past and still do so. I just want to earn enough money to serve basic necessities to my family, but it’s becoming difficult day by day,” says Tarachand Dilsagar. Sometimes I feel I was better off there in Pakistan, he adds.

During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections the BJP manifesto very categorically mentioned that India shall remain a natural home to persecuted Hindus and these persecuted Hindus will be welcomed to seek refuge here. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, back in February 2014 while speaking at a rally in Assam, had also talked about accommodating Hindus from Bangladesh. The refugees at Majnu ka Tila have high expectations from the Modi-led government at the Centre. “We expect a lot from the Modi government and it’s because of this government that we all have stayed back, all of us here,” says Laxman.

India is home

While the stay of Pakistani Hindu refugees hitherto may have been full of hardships, the Modi government is all set to roll out a number of concessions for them. The government seems determined to allow the minorities from Pakistan to purchase property in India and to open bank accounts as well. Not only that, the minorities will also be permitted to take citizenship of India without any impediments.

The sun has started giving some reprieve as the shadows get enlarged in the evening. The men and children have started returning from their workplace and schools respectively. Their arrival dissipates the silence and instills life into the colony. Roopchandra is busy serving sugarcane juice to his customers and throws aside the waste every now and then. “It feels like home here. Pakistan has always been a country that looked alien to us, but India feels home,” he says.