Amritsar, September 3
The fate of more than 20,000 Pakistani Hindus settled in India has been hanging in the balance for more than a decade because of alleged delay in the grant of citizenship rights to them by the Government of India.

The biggest problem for Pakistani Hindus, putting up in different parts of the country and in Punjab, is that their wards are devoid of education and good jobs for want of proof of residence.

Having left their homes and hearths in Pakistan, these Hindus had migrated to India during the past 10 to 15 years, particularly after a surge in activities of Taliban and other fundamentalist organisations in certain pockets of Pakistan. They have settled in parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh.

“Although they have been begging for Indian citizenship for over a decade, they have also not been extended any relief in any shape so far by the Government of India. I will gather all these Pakistani Hindus from different parts of the country and make them sit in front of the Prime Minister’s house if they are not granted citizenship and not extended adequate relief at the earliest,” asserted All-India Hindu Shiv Sena chief Surinder Kumar Billa. He said the BJP should also give up its “rhetoric” of double citizenship to migrants from Bangladesh.

“We have to do labour here for want of any good jobs. If this is not enough, we have to face questioning by the police every now and then. If we were persecuted in Pakistan we are being tormented in India. The Indian Government is not giving citizenship to us and we have to prepare a lot of documentation for renewal of our one-year visa. For this, we have to spend a lot of money for our travel to New Delhi-based Pakistan Embassy. Our children, too, face a lot of difficulties in getting good education as schools want ration cards or voters’ identity cards as proof of residence, which we don’t have,” rued Kala Ram, whose family migrated from Sialkot to Jalandhar.

Datta Ram, now settled in Khanna along with seven-eight other families selling fruit and vegetable, said cumbersome documentation for citizenship and frequent objections by the Home Ministry made acquisition of Indian citizenship next to impossible. “Having spent years in India, our children are still Pakistanis from legal point of view,” complained Datta Ram whose family had migrated from Kohat in Peshawar.

Jalandhar, September 3
Call it delay on the part of a patient’s family or the inability of the Civil Hospital authorities in handling emergency cases, a woman had to deliver her baby in the open compound of the hospital here today.

The woman, Radha, in her mid-30s, reported along with her attendants at the emergency ward of the hospital with severe labour pains. Taking note of the fact that the labour pains were in the last stage, the staff directed the attendants to rush her to the gynae ward.

However, when the attendants rushed to get a wheelchair (or a stretcher) from a class IV employee, he demanded Rs 100 as security.

As the woman hails from a poor family, instead of depositing the security amount, the attendants made her walk to the gynae ward, but she delivered the baby on the way near the OPD hall, barely a few metres away from the emergency ward.

Medical Superintendent Dr Chander Mohan said although he was not aware of the incident due to some official affairs, the fault was not on the part of the hospital staff. In such cases patients themselves report at the hospital at a very late stage of labour pains.

“As far as this particular case is concerned, I can comment only after enquiring about the matter,” he said.

On the other hand, legitimising the security deposit during such emergencies, one of the employees of the hospital claimed that there were instances in the recent past when attendants did not return the wheelchair or stretcher taken by them to shift their patients to different wards.

Phagwara, September 3
Tension prevailed in Phagwara as the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and some Dalits organisations have come face to face after the incident of August 22 when Sikh organisations had objected to holding of akhand path of Sukhmani Sahib on the premises of Baba Budh Das Samadh, near Sant Nirmal Das Dera, at Bhabhiana village. The path was organised by Rajinder Ghera to commemorate the death anniversary of his parents.

Dalits organisations had raised their voice against the radicals and blocked road traffic on August 25 to demand arrest of the culprits. The police was forced to book nine persons under sections 295-A, 511 and 506, IPC. Now Dalits organisations are demanding immediate arrest of the booked persons whereas SAD (A) leader and national executive member Jathedar Rajinder Singh Fauji urged the civil and police administration to first investigate the matter as no true Sikh could tolerate disrespect to Guru Granth Sahib.

On the other hand, hundreds of the activists belonging to the Ambedekar Sena, Punjab, today hold a noisy demonstration, a protest rally and blocked vehicular traffic on the national highways in protest against the alleged inaction of the police in not arrested even a single person who were booked on the charge of hurting religious sentiments in Bhabhiana village on August 25. The protesters later submitted a memorandum to the Tehsildar.

SDM Amarjeet Paul said the administration would work according to law.

Hoshiarpur, September 3
Great resentment prevails among the inhabitants of Harta village against the water supply and sanitation department for not laying the supply pipes of the newly constructed water supply scheme of the village (inaugurated on July 12, 2010) properly, due to which residents encountered water leaks at about two dozen places from the pipes.

Former sarpanch of Harta village, Majhail Singh, inhabitants Joginder Singh, Surjit Singh and president of Social Democratic Party of India Jai Gopal Dhiman said here today that on account of water leakage, almost all the roads in the village were badly damaged and had become potholed where the water had gone stagnant and mosquitoes were breeding. Besides, due to leakage, the water supply was not reaching a majority of the houses. They urged the Superintending Engineer of the Water Supply and Sanitation Department to get the leakage stopped and ensure the regular supply of water to all the houses of the village.

The Superintending Engineer could not be contacted after many attempts.

Hoshiarpur, September 3
The Model Town police has booked Lajo, wife of Bhagwan Dass, and her two daughters Jyoti and Rano of Mohalla Bhagat Nagar and Raju, daughter of Bhatti of Balbir Colony for allegedly assaulting Jyoti, wife of Paramjit, her mother-in-law Kanta Rani and sister-in-law Surjit Kaur at their house in the same locality on the evening of September 1 due to which eight-month pregnancy of Jyoti got terminated.

According to police sources, victim Jyoti alleged that Jyoti, daughter of Bhagwan Dass, wanted to marry her brother-in-law, but members of her in-laws’ family did not agree to it, which enraged Lajo’s family. She alleged that during assault some of them kicked her abdomen, following which severe abdominal pain began and she was admitted in the Civil Hospital where doctors declared the death of her child in the womb.