Pak Sindhis to Shah: Let kids born in India become citizens automatically

Nagpur: Hindu immigrants from Pakistan have proposed that their children born in India should be considered as citizens of the country if either of their parents are Indians. They submitted a memorandum to this effect to Union home minister Amit Shah during his visit to the city on Tuesday.
The memorandum, which called for easing the procedures, also stated that the cut-off date under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) must be extended to December 31, 2024.A significant number of individuals from the minority communities of Pakistan aspire to settle in India, and the extension of the cut-off date would facilitate their process, say the immigrants. Currently, the CAA covers only those who had reached India by December 31, 2014, including Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Buddhists and Jains.
BJP leader Virendra Kukreja, who is also the former president of Bharatiya Sindhu Sabha (Maharashtra), an association of the Sindhi community, presented the memorandum on the community's behalf.
Majority of the recent immigrants from Pakistan hail from the Sindh province. While the immigrants have expressed gratitude to the govt for introducing the CAA, they also sought certain changes in the procedures.
"Presently, even if children are born in India, they are considered Pakistani and can only apply for Indian nationality after both parents acquire citizenship," explained Rajesh Jhambia, secretary of Sindh-Hind Panchayat, an organisation taking up immigrants' issues.
It was suggested that women should be allowed to change their names in the documents after getting married in India. Currently, only the name mentioned in the passport remains unchanged. The immigrants have emphasised that women should be allowed to include their new surnames acquired after marriage in the documents.
Furthermore, it was proposed that Pakistani minorities should be granted visit visas upon arrival at the border. The regulations related to the documents required for obtaining a visa should also be relaxed, stated the memorandum. Upon getting citizenship, domicile certificates should be granted too, it says.