NEW DELHI (Staff Report) – Indian government has revealed a proposal under which it would ease the process to grant citizenship to Pakistani Hindus.
The extraordinary proposal surfaced after a series of reports that suggested Pakistani and Bangladeshi minorities, specially Hindus, were entering into India either without any valid travel documents or with expired visa.
According to Indian media, the proposed legislation will also allow government to grant long term visa to Pakistani national minorities and enable them to buy properties in India, open bank accounts and obtain permanent account number (PAN).
It further suggests special powers for magistrates of as many as 18 Indian districts to grant citizenship to such migrants against reduced fees.These districts are Raipur, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Rajkot, Kutch, Patan, Bhopal, Indore, Nagpur, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, West Delhi, South Delhi, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Jaipur and Lucknow.
It is also planned to fix a uniform fee of Rs100 to grant citizenship to these special groups under neutralisation rule. Currently these fees range from Rs5,000 to Rs15,000.
