Around 800 Pakistani Hindus in Rajasthan, who came to India seeking citizenship on the basis of religious persecution, returned to Pakistan in 2021, according to Seemant Lok Sangathan (SLS), a non-governmental group that advocates for the rights of Pakistani minority migrants in India. Many of them returned to Pakistan after they found that there had been no progress in their citizenship application, despite India passing a law ostensibly granting citizenship to "persecuted minority communities" in neighbouring Islamic countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.  

“Once they return, they are used by Pakistani agencies to defame India. They are paraded before the media and made to say that they were ill-treated here,” Hindu Singh Sodha, president, SLS, was quoted by The Hindu as saying. 

India's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) initiated an online citizenship application process in 2018. It also made about 30 district officials in a dozen states accept online applications to grant citizenship to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jain and Buddhists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Though the entire process is online, the portal does not accept Pakistani passports that have expired, forcing people seeking refuge to rush to the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi to get their passports renewed for a hefty sum. “If it is a family of ten, then they end up spending more than ₹1 lakh at the Pakistan High Commission to get the passports renewed. These people come to India amid great financial hardships and to cough up such a high amount of money is not feasible,” Singh, who is based in Jodhpur, was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

The MHA informed the Rajya Sabha on December 22, 2021 that according to the online module, as many as 10,635 applications for citizenship were pending with the ministry as on December 14, of which 7,306 applicants were from Pakistan. According to Singh, there are 25,000 Pakistani Hindus in Rajasthan alone who have been awaiting citizenship, some for more than two decades. 

In 2015, the MHA amended the Citizenship Rules and legalised the stay of foreign migrants belonging to six communities, who had entered India on or before December 2014 due to persecution on grounds of religion, by exempting them from the provisions of the Passport Act and the Foreigners Act as their passports had expired.

Persons seeking refuge in India either come on long-term visas (LTV) or pilgrim visas. LTVs, given for five years, are a precursor to citizenship.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2011 decided to grant LTVs to hundreds of Hindus and Sikhs who came to India claiming religious persecution in Pakistan. Many came on pilgrim visas and continued to stay here after the expiry of their passports. According to MHA data, the number of LTVs granted to Pakistani Hindus from 2011-2014 stood at 14,726. Also according to MHA data, more than 600 LTVs have been granted to Pakistani Hindus from November 2021-February this year.

The government received altogether 8,244 applications for citizenship from the six minority communities from the three neighbouring countries in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

(SAM)