Jalandhar, April 20
After having gone through media reports regarding the removal of hindrances for being granted Indian citizenship, Pakistani Hindus settled in Punjab are quite optimistic of a quick action on this front.

Over 2,000 Pakistani Hindus settled in the state had been demanding that they be given Indian citizenship for they had been finding problems in sending their wards to schools, seeking jobs, issuance of ration cards, domiciles, voter ID cards and other certificates required for various works.

They have held demonstration in this regard quite often before their respective DCs across the state. A majority of migrants have settled in Jalandhar, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Khanna in Punjab. Ambala in Haryana, Chhatisgarh and Madhya Pradesh also reportedly have such population.

The report that the Centre had decided to do away with the previous rule of requiring them to get it certified from the Pakistani government that they have surrendered their Pakistani citizenship has given them a glimmer of hope.

Raj Kumar, a Pakistani Hindu, said, “We have been facing difficulty for works ranging from getting a cell phone connection to having a bank account. We have to get connections and accounts in the name of our kin in India to avail these facilities.”

He added: “For any work like getting admission of our children, we have had to run around area MLAs and councillors for seeking authenticity.”

Leading the front, Surinder Billa, All-India president of the Shiv Sena, said that he had got to know that the cases of 250 Hindus who have come from Sialkot and settled in Jalandhar were being cleared. “After this, the Hindu and Sikh migrants from Peshawar settled in Amritsar too are quite hopeful now. We have already given affidavits from our side on the issue and would surrender our Pakistani passports and visas whenever we are called”, he added.

Deputy Commissioner Jalandhar Priyank Bharti said he, too, had gone through such reports, but he was yet to receive the official document.