New Delhi: Delhi's Adarsh Nagar and Majnu Ka Tila are two places inside the country's capital where refugees from neighboring country Pakistan live. Till now the Hindu people who came from there were living like foreigners in these refugee camps, but now these will become their permanent homes. This is because 14 people – 9 from Adarsh Nagar Camp and 5 from Majnu Ka Tila – were granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act on Wednesday. No one can even imagine what kind of atrocities they had to endure in Pakistan. Now that he has got Indian citizenship, there is a different feeling of happiness on his face. After not being citizens of any country for more than a decade, the residents of these camps were happy to see their dreams coming true. After the Central government implemented the CAA on March 12, the first set of certificates granting Indian citizenship were distributed to migrants on Wednesday. Madhav, Chandrakala, Bawana and Lakshmi were among those who received citizenship letters on Wednesday. He is a respected resident of Adarsh Nagar Camp. Let us read this story in his own words.
Never went to school but daughter's future will be good.
Lakshmi's father was worried about the safety of his family and feared forced conversion of his two daughters. For this reason, in 2013 he escaped from Mirpur Khas, Pakistan. His family had come to India on pilgrimage and some relatives in Gujarat gave them shelter for a short time. Later he came to know that Pakistani Hindu families also live in Delhi, so he left Gujarat and started living in Adarsh Nagar camp with the help of some local leaders. It was here that Lakshmi got married to another man who had come from Pakistan. Now he also has a one year old daughter. An extremely happy Lakshmi showed her citizenship certificate and said that when I came to India, I was 12 or 13 years old and had never gone to school. I am happy that my daughter's future will be better. She will be able to go to school without any fear and will also be able to avail the benefits of government schemes.
Becoming an Indian is like getting new wings
Jhule Ram remembers that in 2009-10 he moved from Hyderabad to a small village in Sindh due to religious tension in his area. But he did not get relief even in the village. This was the time when his family decided to leave Pakistan. After crossing the border in 2013 at the age of 17, Ram quickly learned the worldly things and today sells mobile phone accessories and cold drinks near Majnu Ka Tila. After getting citizenship along with his brother Harsh Kumar and uncle Sheetal Das, he happily said that becoming an Indian was like getting new wings. Some members of his family are also waiting for a similar change. The best advantage of getting citizenship is that now new paths have opened for us. Now we can leave the camp and settle in the city, where there are better opportunities for education and business.
It's hard to imagine the difficulties
My parents took a very right decision
It is written in Bavanna's citizenship certificate that she came to India from Wagah Border on 22 March 2014, at that time she was eight years old. She now has vague memories of the Tando Allah Yar village in Pakistan, where she was born, but remembers how she had to wear a burqa to go to school with her elder sister and, being a Hindu, even That even water had to be drunk from the hand pump of the school. Pumping was prohibited. Bawna, one of the youngest women to receive citizenship, recently passed her Class 10 CBSE board exam with 70% marks from Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Majlis Park. She says that unlike in Pakistan, she never faced discrimination in her school in Delhi. I want that the education I received should also be given to my relatives living in Pakistan. Our parents had taken the right decision to come to India.
Finding happiness in the happiness of others
Brahma Das has not yet received Indian citizenship, but his neighbors in the camp celebrated when he received the citizenship certificate. Brahm's family came to Majnu ka Tila camp in 2013 along with 60 other migrants from Matiyari district of Sindh. He said that I have done all the necessary paperwork and I hope that my citizenship letter will arrive soon. People who have got Indian citizenship are very lucky. They and their future generations will live in a country that will give them respect and opportunities. Ask those who remain there how it feels to be deprived of economic and social rights. Although Brahm also hopes to take the oath of becoming an Indian citizen soon, he faces the difficulties faced by many of his relatives living in Matiyari and elsewhere in Sindh. Concerns about relatives will remain. He told that we continuously receive horrific news of atrocities there.
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