New Delhi: Perpetual fear of being targeted
in their country has led a group of 140 visiting Pakistani
Hindus to remain in India and seek shelter wanting to make
Delhi their new home.
The group from Sindh province came to India on a tourist
visa, which has since expired, and does not want to return to
to their birthplace as they feel their future there will be in
jeopardy.
Living in penury and with their visas having expired two
months back, the 27 families from a village in Matiari
district near Hyderabad feel they will be secure in India.
Currently living in tents put up by an organisation in
Majnu Ka Tilla in north Delhi, the old, the young and the
children have only one appeal to the Indian Government --
extend visas and give them proper accommodation in the city.
Having got tourist visas after waiting for several years,
the group of 140 people crossed over to the Indian side from
Pakistan by foot on September two and reached the capital two
days later.
Ganga Ram, who is coordinating with the NGO, says they
had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress
chief Sonia Gandhi in this regard, but are yet to get a
reply.
Making rotis in an open space surrounded by her family
and friends at the camp, 20-year-old Jamuna narrated her tale
of leaving Pakistan to India with a glimmer of hope that at
least her children would be able to get better life and
education in a peaceful environment.
"There is no religious freedom in Pakistan. We (Hindus)
were never allowed to study. We have always been targeted. We
were waiting for the Indian visa so that we can come here and
settle in Hindustan. We just don't want to go back," she told
PTI as she served rotis to her family.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, November 23, 2011, 16:34