By Chanchal Manohar Singh
Chandigarh: Deportation of Six Pakistani Hindus staying at Nachna village, near Pokhran in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan, have been stayed by the Minister of Home Affairs (equivalent to Interior Ministry in Pakistan) for overstaying in India by violating the visa rules.
The Rajasthan Police and Foreigners’ Registration office had issued notice to the six Hindus who had come from Pakistan following the missive received from Rajasthan government to deport them as they had overstayed and were also staying in prohibited areas and were also indulging in “suspicious” activities.
Due to rethinking in Union Home Ministry, a fresh letter was sent to the Rajasthan government on October 14, asking to put on hold the deportation order of the six Hindus from Pakistan, who were staying without obtaining permission from authorities and were also involved in “suspicious activities.
The family has approached the police and administration, as well as Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, elected to the Lok Sabha from Jodhpur, with a plea to let them stay in Rajasthan. The women of the family have warned that they would “commit suicide” if the male members were forced to go back to Pakistan.
The Hindu family comprising 19 members fled from Pakistan in 2013 fearing religious persecution in
Pakistan and settled in Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Their visa was regularly extended but six of them moved to Nachan, which falls under the area west of national highway and is strictly restricted to foreign nationals.
The notice was issued last Tuesday to nawab Chand, Gul Chand, Kishore Dass, Kanwar Ram, and Kajal, a woman, signed by the superintendent of Police (Intelligence ) Jodhpur, it asked them to leave India immediately family invited by Nawab Chand was suspected to be involved in hawala and “received hawala money.’
The family has approached the police and the administration, as well as union minister Gajinder Singh Shekhawat, elected to the Lok Sabha from jodhpur, with a plea to let them staying Rajasthan.
The MHA letter said the family, invited by Nawab Chand, was suspected to be in “receipt of hawala money”.
The family has approached the police and administration, as well as Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, elected to the Lok Sabha from Jodhpur, with a plea to let them stay in Rajasthan. The women of the family have warned that they would “commit suicide” if the male members were forced to go back to Pakistan.
Hindu Singh Sodha, president of Seemant Lok Sangathan that works for Pakistani migrants in the State, said on Friday that the six had shifted to Nachna in search of livelihood as agricultural labourers in the fields near the Indira Gandhi Canal. “They have not committed any crime. The police are free to proceed against them as per the law if they are involved in criminal activities.”
A senior Home Ministry official said the notice had been stayed and was under further consideration of the government. The State government had been asked to defer any deportation/leave India notice till further orders from the Central government.
Mr. Sodha said the Rajasthan High Court had recently directed the police not to issue deportation notice to any Pakistani migrant without its permission during the pendency of a public interest litigation. If the family's male members were forcibly sent back, the women and children would find it difficult to survive, he added.