Pak girl seeks PM’s help to appear for medical test
JAIPUR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has completed two years in power, but his promise of “accommodating” Hindu migrants from Pakistan remains unfulfilled. This young Pakistani student, who dreams of becoming a doctor, is one of the many feeling the pinch of the delay in governmental action.
Nineteen-year-old
Mashal Maheshwari, who moved with her family to Jaipur from Hyderabad in Pakistan’s Sindh province two years ago, wants to appear for the All India PreMedical Test (AIPMT) exam but is ineligible to apply.
There are only two categories under which aspirants can apply for the AIPMT – Indian citizen or NRI.
“My parents are doctors and I would like to follow in their footsteps. My dream is to save lives and serve people, but I don’t fit the criteria,” says Mashal, who studies in a private school here with her younger brother and sister.
Mashal’s parents quit their jobs in Pakistan and moved to India in June 2014. The family is residing here on a long-term visa. “Though we were welloff there, we were concerned about our security. Minorities feel insecure in Pakistan, and there’s no religious or cultural freedom,” says Dr Nirmala, Mashal’s mother, who works at a private hospital.
Mashal’s 91% score in the CBSE Class 12 examinations seemed to have brought her a step closer to realising her AIPMT dream. But that’s when she hit the nationality roadblock.
Her family wrote to chief minister Vasundhara Raje and state health minister Rajendra Rathore, but to no avail. Following this, Mashal placed a request on the Prime Minister’s portal.
Private medical colleges are not an option for Mashal because they are too expensive. “We can’t afford a donation of `1 crore when our combined salary is just ` 60,000,” says Nirmala.
Hindu Singh Sodha of the Seemant Lok Sangathan, an NGO, says the 15,000 Pakistani Hindus living in Rajasthan are unable to access basic facilities or take up jobs because they don’t have Indian documents.
Recently, the Modi government announced that migrants staying in the country on long-term visas would be able to buy property, open bank accounts, and apply for PAN cards and Aadhaar number. It also proposed to cut the citizenship application fee from `15,000 to `100.
However, Sodha isn’t satisfied. While all these steps are welcome, he says, none of them can solve Mashal’s problem.