Pakistani Hindus in India still awaiting citizenship

August 19, 2012
PH

Jalandhar, August 19: With Hindus who migrated from Pakistan more than a decade ago struggling to get Indian citizenship, they are unable to help Hindus in Pakistan, who want to come to India, due to discriminatory treatment.

"I am getting calls and message from my relatives asking for help in crossing the border and coming to India. However, when we have not been granted citizenship even after 13 years, we are unable to help them," said Ashok Kumar, who migrated to India in 1999 and is settled in the city.

More than 250 families have been awaiting citizenship in Jalandhar.

"We have requested the authorities to grant us Indian citizenship after submitting complete documents, a number of times, but it seems our file is yet to move forward."

Three months ago, residents received a communication from the deputy commissioner asking for resubmission of required documents with personal verification.

"However, we are ready to extend all possible help to Hindus who manage to cross the border into India, as we can understand their plight," Kumar, a supervisor in a sports goods factory, said.

"We applied for Indian citizenship, which has been denied till now.

Ultimately, our passport expired in 2006." Kumar said, adding that the district administration had also sent some letters, some of which instructing them to go back to Pakistan.

When contacted, deputy commissioner, Priyank Bharti, told HT that few months ago, he had received a communication from state's home department, wanting him to conduct verification of migrated Hindus. Accordingly, the list of verified names was sent.

However, later the home department had raised some objections on some names.

"Personal inquiry of some of the applicants is still pending, which will be cleared soon," he said. He added that once the process was complete, the state home department would send the final list to the union home ministry for final approval of granting citizenship.

Kaushlya Devi, 60, another migrant, said that she along with family members took shelter in India, after facing a threat to their lives in Sialkot, Pakistan.

"In Pakistan, fundamentalists were pressuring us to adopt Islam. When we opposed the diktat, we were harassed and mentally tortured," Kaushalya said.

She added that each migrated family had shelled-out Rs. 15,000 on completing the files for wanting citizenship, but nothing had been accomplished.

Hans Raj, 68, said that during his stay in Pakistan, his religion came in the way of his marriage. Finally, he decided to shift to India.


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Agencies
January 8,2020

New Delhi, Jan 8: Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) President Aishe Ghosh has filed a complaint over the violence that took place at the varsity campus on Sunday.

"I am filing this complaint for the incident in which a mob conspired and acted with common intention to assault, intimidate and attempt to murder me, and request you to register an FIR and apprehend culprits at the earliest," the complaint read.

She said that on January 5, in the afternoon, she received information from students in the campus that some students affiliated to ABVP along with other unidentified men and women had gathered with weapons like rods, sledgehammers and lathis near Ganga Bus Stop.

"I along with Nikhil Mathew (MA Labour Studies) who was also present there, were surrounded by a group of persons of that mob most of whom were wearing masks. The mob of 20-30 persons dragged me behind a car standing near the 24*7 and surrounded me and despite my pleading did not let me go and attacked me with rods while I had fallen down. I remember that one of the people was of medium height wearing a brownish-red sweatshirt with UCLA written on it. I saw his face as he was facing me and did not have a mask on and can identify him if I see him," Ghosh wrote in her complaint.

"I was attacked by the above-mentioned persons collectively and was hit on the head multiple times with iron rods. I fell to the ground and my head started bleeding, and some of them kicked me and hit me with the rod on my hand and rest of the body including my head, chest and back."

"I am attaching with this complaint a copy of the MLC which details my injuries. Nikhil Mathew tried to save me but was also hit with an iron hammer and other weapons on his head and arms. The intention of the group of men and their acts was definitely to murder me and other persons associated with me," she said.

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News Network
June 5,2020

New Delhi, Jun 5: Shares of Reliance Industries on Friday gained over 2 per cent to hit their one-year high level after the company announced sale of 1.85 per cent stake in its digital unit, Jio Platforms, to Abu Dhabi-based sovereign investor Mubadala.

On BSE, the heavyweight stock jumped 2.38 per cent to Rs 1,617.70 -- its 52-week high.

It surged 2.41 per cent to its one-year high of Rs 1,618 on NSE.

Earlier in the day, Reliance Industries announced the sale of 1.85 per cent stake in its digital unit to Mubadala for Rs 9,093.60 crore, the sixth deal in as many weeks that will inject a combined Rs 87,655.35 crore in the oil-to-telecom conglomerate to help it pare debt.

"Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala) will invest Rs 9,093.60 crore in Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore," the company said in a statement.

With this investment, Jio Platforms has raised Rs 87,655.35 crore from leading global technology and growth investors including Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR and Mubadala in less than six weeks.

Jio Platforms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, is a next-generation technology company.

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News Network
April 16,2020

United Nations, Apr 16: WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has welcomed the world health body's cooperation with India to leverage strategies that helped the country win its war against polio into the response to COVID-19 outbreak, saying such joint efforts will help defeat the pandemic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it will work with India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to leverage the strategies that helped the country eradicate polio to fight the pandemic.

Migrants who returned to UP and Bihar were hurriedly housed in schools and panchayat buildings, which were turned into quarantine centres. However, unhygienic conditions and people running away have proved to be a problem

The WHO's national polio surveillance network will be engaged to strengthen COVID-19 surveillance and its field staff will continue to support immunization and elimination of tuberculosis and other diseases.

“Great news: @MoHFW_INDIA & @WHOSEARO initiated a systematic engagement of @WHO's national polio surveillance network, and other field staff, for India's #COVID19 response, tapping into the best practices & resources that helped win its war against polio,” the WHO director-general tweeted, referring to India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia.

According to the Johns Hopkins University data, over 2 million people are infected by the virus and more than 136,000 people have died of the disease globally.

Ghebreyesus expressed gratitude to Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan “for his leadership and collaboration” with WHO. “Through these joint efforts we can defeat the #coronavirus and save lives. Together!”

India eliminated polio in 2014.
According to a WHO press release, Vardhan said in New Delhi that “time and again the Government of India and WHO together have shown our ability, competence and prowess to the whole world. With our combined meticulous work, done with full sincerity and dedication, we were able to get rid of polio.”

“All of you in the field – IDSP (Integrated Disease Surveillance Project), state rapid response teams and WHO - are our ‘surveillance corona warriors'. With your joint efforts we can defeat the coronavirus and save lives,” Vardhan added.

WHO South-East Asia Regional Director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said the National Polio Surveillance Project (WHO-NPSP) played a critical role in strengthening surveillance for polio that generated useful, timely and accurate data to guide policies, strategies and interventions until transmission of the poliovirus was interrupted in the country,” adding that the other WHO field staff involved with elimination of tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases and hypertension control initiative were also significant resources.

Singh added that “it is now time to use all your experience, knowledge and skills, with the same rigor and discipline that you showed while monitoring polio activities, to support districts with surveillance, contact tracing and containment activities.”

The WHO release said strengths of the NPSP team – surveillance, data management, monitoring and supervision, and responding to local situations and challenges – will be utilized to supplement efforts of National Centre for Disease Control, IDSP and Indian Council of Medical Research to strengthen COVID-19 surveillance.

The NPSP team will also support in sharing information and best practices and help states and districts calibrate their response based on transmission scenarios and local capacities.

The WHO field staff will continue to support immunization and surveillance and elimination of Tuberculosis and Neglected Tropical Diseases, Singh said, adding, “disease outbreaks can negatively impact progress in a range of areas, from maternal and child mortality to vaccine-preventable diseases and other treatable conditions. India had been making stupendous progress in these areas and we cannot afford for India's remarkable progress to be set back or reversed.”

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