New Delhi: Seeking to implement a promise made by Narendra Modi in the run to Lok Sabha polls, the Home Ministry has convened a meeting next week with representatives of minority communities from neighbouring countries to address their grievances related to long-term Indian visa and citizenship.
Additional Secretary (Foreigners) in the Ministry Braj Kishore Prasad will hold a meeting with representatives from nearly ten associations, which represent minority communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, on December 23 to discuss the problems faced by minority communities from these countries in getting long-term visa and citizenship.
They will also be explained the procedure for grant of long-term visa and Indian citizenship, a Home Ministry statement said.
Following a directive from Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Home Ministry had set up a task force under a senior officer to monitor and expedite the processing of citizenship and long-term visa applications on September 5 last, said the statement.
The task force has since held interactive sessions in a number of cities across the country having concentrations of such people to monitor and expedite grant of citizenship and long-term visa and addressed public grievances, it said.
The Ministry had received representations from time to time citing hardships and difficulties in grant of long-term visa and citizenship applicants, especially of minorities from neighbouring countries who are often of poor economic standing, according to the statement.
Reviewing the procedure, the Home Minister had directed that the entire process be expedited.
As BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Modi had, during campaigning for Lok Sabha polls, said at rallies in Rajasthan, West Bengal and Assam that Pakistani and Bangladeshi Hindu refugees would be treated like other Indian citizens if he became Prime Minister.
“We have a responsibility toward Hindus who are harassed and suffer in other countries. Where will they go? India is the only place for them. Our government cannot continue to harass them. We will have to accommodate them here,” he had said at a rally in Silchar in Assam in February.
There are about 400 Pakistani Hindu refugee settlements in Rajasthan’s cities like Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Jaipur. Many Sikh refugees live in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
There are thousands of Hindu refugees from Bangladesh in West Bengal and Assam.
According to an estimate, about one lakh minority community refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan live in India. (PTI)
