INDIA, April 30, 2012 (First Post): “Hindus are like a fish out of water in Pakistan. They all want to come to India, hoping to put an end to their misery – but it is a different story here altogether,” says Krishan Lal, who is one of a group of 145 Hindus who fled Pakistan on a pilgrimage visa. He now lives in a refugee camp in North Delhi, praying that the Indian government will offer him permanent refuge.
The Hindu minority, under siege in Pakistan, especially from abductions, rapes, and forcible conversion of their women, is increasingly desperate to get out. The usual trickle of refugees has grown rapidly in the last year. Until mid-2011, 8-10 families crossed the border; that number has now increased to 400.
Even this number, however, is artificially low, kept down by stringent Indian visa regulations, especially after the 2009 Mumbai attack. Only one in five visa applications are approved.
Those lucky enough to cross the border are shoved into refugee camps, where they languish without rights or attention in a “no man’s land.” The Indian government treats them as an inconvenience that is best ignored. Take, for instance, Pujari Lal who fled in 1999 after his teenage sister was kidnapped and raped. He now lives in Khanna, Punjab, in a settlement with 1,200 other Hindu and Sikh refugees.