A notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs was released on October 31, enabling the two district collector districts in Gujarat, Mehsana, and Anand, to issue citizenship certificates to members of the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jains, Parsi, Christian, and Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Afghani communities.
The MHA also requested that all requirements be followed, including that the applicant submits an online application for registration as an Indian citizen or for issuance of a certificate of naturalization as an Indian citizen in accordance with the aforementioned rules, that the collector at the district level verifies the application, and that the application and any related reports be made simultaneously available to the central government on an online portal. The collector, in this case, may decide to grant the applicant’s request. And for that reason submits the application online to those agencies for verification and comments as may be necessary for concluding such an inquiry. The state or Union territory and district in question will strictly abide by the instructions issued by the central government from time to time in this regard.
At the Ahmedabad collectorate in August, Gujarat’s home minister, Harsh Sanghavi, presented Indian citizenship certificates to 40 Pakistani Hindus. A district collector has granted citizenship to 1,032 Pakistanis in total since 2017, according to an official release. The district collectors of Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, and Kutch have the authority to issue citizenship to minorities, including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians living in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, in accordance with the gazette notifications of 2016 and 2018. The Intelligence Bureau personnel of both the state and federal governments examine the citizenship applicants. The press statement further stated that 107 Pakistani Hindus had already been granted Indian citizenship by the Ahmedabad district collector in 2022.
News Mania Desk
