INDIA, July 2, 2011: More than 7,000 Pakistani nationals living in India, even after their visas expired, seeking permanent residency will be able to get Indian citizenship.
Avinash Rai Khanna, the Union home secretary has said that those Pakistani nationals living in India, who have not been able to procure renunciation certificates from their country – which were earlier mandatory for getting Indian citizenship – would also be considered for Indian citizenship.
The government of India has identified 7,635 such Pakistani nationals in the country who have been living here before December 2004. Their cases will be taken up on an individual basis.
Khanna said the government has adopted a humanitarian approach and relaxed the norms on renunciation certificates. “People would now be able to get the same from Indian authorities by simply submitting an affidavit,” he added.
These are mostly Hindu families who fled Pakistan following a growing number of incidents of rape and looting by the extremist elements. Besides Rajpura, these families from Pakistan are settled in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Panipat and Karnal.