Citizenship camps for minorities from Afghanistan, Pak and Bangladesh

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan home department has directed collectors of eight districts to organise special camps for citizenship to minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh living in India for over seven years.

According to the order, sent to collectors of Pali, Jalore, Sirohi, Sriganganagar, Bikaner, Kota, Udaipur and Barmer, the camps will be held between December 2 and December 13 on different days in different districts.

Bhawani Shankar, senior deputy secretary of the passport and visa section in the Rajasthan home ministry, said the camps will facilitate citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from the three countries.

“The focus of the camps will be on applications filed before October 1, 2018, the cut-off date after which only online applications are accepted,” Shankar said.

The order said the camps will also accept online applications from eligible applicants under the sections of the Citizenship Act, 1955. The district officials and Foreigners Registration Officer will help applicants with pending citizenship applications and try to clear the backlog.

The BJP welcomed the decision . State BJP chief Satish Poonia said they had been doing this when their government was in power. “We appreciate the move; many migrated Hindu brothers have been living various parts of Rajasthan for many years. Such camps were organised in the previous BJP regime also,” he said.

The camp will be held in Pali on December 2, in Jalore on December 4, in Sri Ganganagar on December 5, in Bikaner on December 6, in Kota on December 9, in Udaipur on December 10 and in Barmer on December 13. HTC