200 Hindu & Sikhs families flee to India from Pak; Akali Dal seeks citizenship for them

As many as 200 Pakistani Hindus crossed over to India through the Attari-Wagah border on Monday, and officials said that they are not ready to go back. Backing the families, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that he has apprised the Home Minister about the situation. 

Though the Pakistani Hindus came on a visitor's visa but some of them claimed that they felt unsafe in Pakistan and hoped to get India citizenship. Akali leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa said he was at the border crossing to receive four families who "fled" Pakistan. Sirsa also said he will request HM Amit Shah to grant them Indian citizenship. 

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Meanwhile, Borders official claim the number of Hindus travellers from Pakistani using this border crossing has increased significantly over the past month. Most of the travellers crossing over to India on Monday belonged to Sindh and Karachi areas. Some of them carried luggage and said they will seek asylum in India. One of the Pakistani Hindus on the condition of anonymity said after the enactment of the new citizenship law, Hindus and Sikhs living in Pakistan and Afghanistan were "optimistic" of getting Indian citizenship. Most of them were travelling to Rajasthan to meet their relatives, they said.

"We are not feeling safe in Pakistan. Our girls feel insecure as they fear that they could be kidnapped any time by hardliners while police watch as mute spectators. Our girls cannot walk freely in the north-west area of Pakistan," said a woman. Two more women, without disclosing their names, told the media that kidnapping of Hindu girls had become a routine affair in Pakistan and no family dared to lodge a complaint with police against fundamentalists.

(with PTI inputs)

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