2838 Pakistanis, 172 Bangladeshis, 914 Afghans given Indian citizenship in last 6 years
Chennai/IBNS: As many as 2838 Pakistanis have been given Indian citizenship in the last six years, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Sunday, media reports said.
A total of 914 Afghan refugees, 172 Bangladeshi refugees including Muslims were given Indian citizenship, besides 2838 Pakistanis, she said at a programme on Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019
As many as 4,00,000 Tamils from Sri Lanka have been given citizenship between 1964 and 2008, she added.
Around 1595 Pakistani migrants and 391 Afghan Muslims got Indian citizenship under the Modi government between 2016-18 and it was during that period when celebrated singer Adnan Sami got Indian citizenship.
She said immigrants from East Pakistan were living in various camps across the country even after 50-60 years.
Stating that these refugees were forced to live without basic rights, Sithramana said that the same was the case with Sri Lankan refugees.
Reiterating the government's message that the new citizenship law was not meant to take away citizenship, she said it aimed to give better lives to people.
She added that the National Population Register(NPR) was updated every 10 years and was not linked to the National Register of Citizens(NRC).
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