Kashmiris prefer azadi, says Soz
Another Congress leader, Azad, says Army is killing more civilians than terrorists
Stepping on its nationalist agenda, the BJP on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Congress for “disrespecting” and “insulting” the Indian Army.
Following a remark by Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad that “the Army was killing civilians more than terrorists”, the BJP swung into action and fielded senior Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to equate the Congress with “terrorists”.
The BJP claimed a new Congress has emerged and under its president Rahul Gandhi and with the blessings of Sonia Gandhi, it wants to strengthen forces working to break India, as it referred to the statements of Congress’ Saifuddin Soz. “Musharraf had explained that if Kashmiris were given a chance to exercise their free will, they would prefer to be independent. In fact, this assessment of Musharraf seems to be correct even today,” Mr Soz wrote in his book.
Ahmedabad, June 22: As many as 90 Hindus from Pakistan, who had migrated to the city years ago, were awarded Indian citizenship by the district authorities at a function held here on Friday.
District collector Vikrant Pandey handed over the certificates of Indian citizenship, issued in accordance with the provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1955, to the 90 applicants.
“In 2016, the Centre had decentralised the process of issuing citizenship to the minority communities, such as the Hindus and the Sikhs, of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan,” Mr Pandey said.
Through a gazette notification issued in December 2016, the district collectors of Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Kutch in Gujarat were given powers to confer citizenship to the applicants from these communities living in Gujarat, he added.
“With today’s tally of 90, Ahmedabad becomes a leader among all the districts in the country in awarding such citizenship since the new arrangement came into effect,” Mr Pandey said.
“Since 2016, the Ahmedabad district collectorate has awarded citizenship to 320 people. No other district in the country has awarded these many certificates of citizenship. Ninety per cent of the 320 applicants were from Pakistan, while the rest were from Bangladesh,” he added.
The collector said since these people were now Indian citizens, they could apply for Aadhaar, passport and various other benefits.
“The names of these citizens will also be included in the electoral rolls,” he added.
A 2016 gazette notification had autrhorised district collectors of Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Kutch to confer citizenship to minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.