This is the text of a memorandum submitted recently by the PEOPLE’S UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES, Rajasthan, to the state’s chief secretary.

12th June, 2013

Sh. CK Mathew,
Chief Secretary,
Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur

Subject: Urgently providing temporary housing and other support to refugees from Sindh, Pakistan living in Paldi Meena, Jaipur

Dear Sir,

This is in continuance of our telephonic conversation regarding provision of temporary housing to the 23 persons belonging to six families who have come to Jaipur in the last five months from Umerkot, in Sindh province of Pakistan due to deteriorating conditions of the minorities and there existence in fear there. Some came in January 2013 and others came in March. They all arrived in India via the Thar Express which they boarded from Mirpur and first came to Jodhpur before moving to Jaipur. They are mostly on visitors and pilgrimage Indian visas.

At your behest the Secretary of the Jaipur Development Authority Mr. Bishnu Mallick even called us up and met us. However, there is no plan at the level of the JDA to provide for this category of refugees. There is a provision of giving a plot of land to those who get citizenship, as was given to 12 families who were granted citizenship in 2001 and 2005, last year in Govindpura JDA colony. However, the whole process of obtaining citizenship is so tedious that despite staying well beyond the minimum seven year period required for citizenship, there are thousands who are still waiting for a nationality. After obtaining citizenship the next step of obtaining a plot of land and other benefits take even longer time. Even today many of the Gobindpura families have not got possession of their piece of land.

The minorities of Pakistan come with a lot of hope to India after ceasing all ties with their fellow beings including their homes, farms, fields and their home country. It is sad to see that till date the issue of their housing, work permits and leading a life with dignity in India has not been resolved at our end. WE hold both the Government of India and Government of Rajasthan responsible for this as these families face a lot of harassment due to the arbitrary rules and regulations that we have in India. These refugees mostly end up in the dehumanised transit camps running in Jodhpur and around where 7000 Pak refugees are living there for years together, as their Indian Status has not been decided upon. A few end up like the above six with relatives in different parts of Rajasthan including Jaipur or in the State of Haryana where there are 300 families in just Sirsa or in Punjab.

Please treat this letter as our plea is for this group of 23 who have has just arrived and want to live with dignity in India. The letter is in four parts.

1. The nature of Suffering of the Pakistani Hindus in India

The six families came to Jaipur as they had a relative living in JDA Colony, Paldi Meena, Jaipur, who is a citizen of this country and has a small house there. Since nobody can house 23 persons, these 6 families are living in one room provided by their relative in Paldi Meena. It actually means that their belongings are kept inside the room and they stay outside their house. The men end up living in the day time under the shade of trees or in the shadows of other houses. The women and small children all huddle in the small 10 * 10 room; due to purdah they cannot consider stretching themselves outside. The number of children with them are twelve, with one only six weeks old. She was born in the bus to Aniraj and Savari when they were returning from Haridwar. Neither the mother nor the baby has ever seen the face of the Hospital as they fear being thrown out due to their Pakistani Nationality. You can imagine how the childhood of this baby is absolutely unprotected with no vaccines or extra food through an Anganwadi to the mother.  These Families do not have a work permit and therefore even with excellent qualifications nobody is willing to hire them. They have absolutely no resources and are living largely on the largesse of Amrapura, a Sindhi religious Matth (high seat). The said society occasionally gives them grain and clothes. It is therefore imperative that the Government takes cognizance of the situation and provides these families with housing and shelter, food, medicines, clothes, work rights and other basic requirements of survival at least temporarily.

2. The Context of leaving Pakistan and seeking refuge in India

Why have these six families decided to cease all ties with Pakistan which has been their homeland? According to them the reason to leave Pakistan towards August 2012/2013 was due to a sudden increase in hostility and discrimination that they faced due to their religious status. The deterioration in relationships began in the last two years, where the dominance of the majority community in collusion with the State apparatus made living difficult. The first few feeling of hatred that they ever experienced was after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. It was the demolition that created an atmosphere of vengeance and hate. In the last two decades they saw routine kidnappings of their children, women faced sexual harassment and they were not allowed to live with dignity or engage in an occupation suitable to their qualification. The case of abduction and forced marriage of Rinkle Kumari and two others in 2012 was the last straw and it was after that that the minority community of Hindus decided enmasse to leave Pakistan due to fear of their lives.

Although the Government of Pakistan gave the Minority community several assurances, however, according to these six families it was not convincing enough as they felt that lived in the far interiors of Sindh, where there was hardly any state support. It was the rule of the big land lords in these areas. The police force was also communalised so there was hardly any protection for them. Although this decision of leaving their homeland for good had not been an easy decision but they had no other option and had now made up their mind fully that they would never return to Pakistan,

3. Who are these families and why are they here in India and their condition

• Family of Aqlan wife of the late Tanwar Mal.

Aqlan was born before partition in 1944 and is now aged 69 years, a widow whose husband Tanwar Mal died 12 months back. She has adopted her grandchild Bharat Raj son of Jujraaj Singh aged 12 years which was her husband’s last wish before his death. She is a mother of six sons, with three here in India and three in Pakistan. Her daughter too is in Pakistan. She came to India on 5th of January on a visitors visa. The three sons of Aqlan who are here are Kanwaraj, Taneraj and Jujraaj. One of Aqlan refused to talk much to the interviewers since some members of her family are still living in Pakistan. They are three of her sons Prithviraj, Mukhraj and Khiraj. Her daughter Dharma lives in Umarkot in Sindh, her husband having a modest business of repairing tyre puncture. Aqlan lives in fear, of her sons’ safety in Pakistan. Meanwhile she lives here in pathetic condition without adequate food, clothing and sanitation.

She ought to be given a pension immediately and a ration card along with housing facilities.

• Family of Kanwaraj:

He is 57 years of age. He is here with two sons. Dilraj who is married and Vinesh Raj who was studying in the tenth has left his studies. He has left behind two sons in Pakistan, the eldest Devraj and Santraj and two daughters Amira Bai and Anira Bai both in their twenties. His wife Gulan is 55 years is with him. Kanwaraj was a tractor driver on the fields of the big Muslim landlords. He also tailored clothes and had one sewing machines with legs. He used to earn his livelihood through this work. He lived on the outskirts of the city and his wife Gulan also did farming which is how they survived. He came to India on 27th April, 2013 on a pilgrimage visa with his wife and two sons and their families. He is living here in an absolutely dehumanised condition along with five other families in one room.

• Family of Taneraj Singh Rajput:

Taniraj aged 44 years has a wife age 41 years called Muli Bai. He is here with four of his children. Three of his sons: Aniraj 26 years, Sindh Raj 22 years and Vijesh Kumar 19 years respectively and a young daughter called Nirmala of 12 years are here in India. One daughter Anila aged 20 years has been left behind in Umarkot in Pakistan. Taneraj with his wife, daughter and two of his unmarried sons reached India on the 4th May, 2013

Taniraj has done his MA in Political Science from Hyderabad University, the degree that he is still carrying with him, but got no job. The discrimination of minorities within their governance structure is so acute that his name was scrapped from the merit list for a Government job because of his religion. All his life has worked as mazdoor on the fieldsof the powerful Muslim Landlords.

The eldest son Aneraj who is also in India with his family has completed his inter college.  Sindhraj the second son has done diploma in civil engineering but never got a job. Vijesh is the  youngest son of Taniraj was a truck driver by profession and once he was looted by some Muslims at gunpoint when they took away goods worth of Rs 2 lakhs, so he had to sell his truck worth Rs.14 Lakhs for Rs. 8 Lakhs and has come to India.

Nirmala is twelve years but is studying in the 1st. She definitely needs to go to school.

Thus, they have come here in search of dignity, work and help. They desperately need a suitable shelter to stay in so that they can find some work and keep body and soul together.

• Family of Jujraaj Singh:

Jujraaj Singh is the youngest son of Aqlan and is 34 years old. His wife is 34 years called Naseeba, They have one child Bharat Raj who is 15 years has been adopted by his mother, Aqlan. However on the passport he remains the son of Jujraaj. Bharat was studying in the 5th standard however, is now out of school. Jujraaj was severely exploited and harassed in Pakistan just as the above mentioned families were due to their Hindu status. He used to do farming work under a Muslim landlord and was never paid full wages and never on time. It was like being in bondage. He was also routinely insulted and rebuked at work. A life with dignity was impossible in Pakistan. He asks a simple question that, “In Pakistan he was exploited because he is Hindu and in India the government refuses to help his family since he is Pakistani, so where does he go?’ He is worried for his three brothers who have stayed behind in Pakistan. Currently living with the five other families in one room in Paladi Meena, without food, shelter or clothing he only expects the Government to provide him temporary housing.

• Family Diraj Singh s/o Kanwaraj Singh

Dilraj singh the son of Kanwraj Singh is 33 years old. He came to India on April 27th 2013 from Umarkot Sindh district. He has three children. Eldest son Lateshraj aged 8 years, Vikeshraj aged 4 years and a daughter Vikeshan who is only 2 years old. Although Dilraj had done his diploma in civil engineering but since there were no jobs for him in Pakistan so he used to work at a petrol pump run by a Hindu. According to him Muslim employers will never give good well paying jobs to Hindus. On many occasion they had to face bullying tactics of some of the powerful who would not pay for buying petrol. They as labourers had to bear the loss personally. Dilraj wanted to come to India as he but wants his children to have a secure future which according to him begins with a good education. He also wants his daughter to get an education which was not allowed in Pakistan.

Here they were living in a very unhygienic condition with 23 people in 1 room and also they facing problem related to food and water. So as monsoon is approaching the need of the hour is to provide them proper shelter, employment and good education.

• Aniraj Singh son of Taneraj:

Aniraj is a young man aged 26 years with a wife and four small kids, the oldest being a four year old and the youngest just a month old who was born in extremely trying circumstances in a bus journey to Haridwar.

He and his family are in India through a pilgrimage visa and came to India on 30th March, 2013. Regardless of the fact that he had left their properties and assets in Pakistan, his family does not want to go back since life is more important than property. All the males in Aniraj’s family as well as the other refugee families have good literacy levels. They all have studied up to class 12th and few of them even have MSc degrees. Aniraj himself has an Intermediate degree. But like all other members of his community jobs are very few for them there. However in India too they seem to poor and helpless since they do not have a work permit. In Pakistan, he had a flourishing business of trucks. He and his brother had to sell his truck and come here. The money was used for coming to India.

He also told us that out of desperation he went to a House to earn money through white washing. Initially the wage fixed was Rs.300 per day, however in the evening the house owner gave them just Rs. 100, and asked him to leave the work from next day. Reason being, that they knew he could be exploited as he was without a voice as he was a Pakistani National.

He was quite surprised to see women freely working in India. The situation in Pakistan is completely different where even men who are Hindus have to be careful before stepping out of the house. He kept showing the terrible living conditions that he and others with him are living in, with one single toilet for 23 of them. His family does not have access to proper food and clothes and ration is limited to that which is given by Amrapura Sindhi Samaj, Jaipur.

Aniraj’s wife Sawari informs that women of the minority community in Pakistan are constantly living in fear. As eve teasing and sexual harrasment is so commonplace that they fear to step out and work. So their families decision to come away in order to lead a normal life in India. However she also added that it was unfortunate that here she has not got any medical aid and was refused admission in a hospital despite having to give birth to their youngest daugther Jeevika in a bus on a journey to Haridwar soon after reaching India. The baby has not had any of the vaccines, nor has the mother got the food she should have eaten post delivery.

Table 1

Refugee Families details

Table 2

Children under the age of 18 years who need support

Table 3

Those who desire Pensions

Table 4

Those who desire Work Permits

Table 5

Those who desire Maternal entitlements and ICDS support

4. Our demands:

1. We demand that the above named refugees be provided some sort of Employment Visa and Residence visa so that they can work, earn their livelihood and live with dignity.

2. We would like you to write to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India in Delhi to delegate the powers to the State Government to provide them with them refugee status. They should also be granted citizenship as expeditiously as done in the past.

3. We demand that the Rajasthan Government takes up the responsibility of the welfare State and immediately provides these refugees with housing, clothing, shelter and food.

4. Regarding Housing, they be allowed temporary access to some suitable accommodation with adequate sanitation, shelter and a place to cook and clean.They will give the guarantee and leave whenever they are asked to do so.

5. We demand that the refugees be brought under the cover of all the Supreme Court schemes.

• They be provided with subsidised rations under the PDS for which they all be declared Antyodaya families. Each of the six families should be provided with temporary ration cards and given the right to subsidized rations and kerosene.

• Savari the pregnant and lactating women and all the five children under six should have access to the Anganwadi services as directed by the Supreme Court along with maternity benefits.

• All the 7 school going children be allowed entry into Government schools and access to free books, uniform and the Mid Day Meal

• All the three old be provided with unconditional pensions. The issue of 25 year old son should not be applied, as the sons themselves are unable to feed for themselves how would they look after the others.

6. They are allowed access to the free medicines and free investigation through the Government hospitals in the area they are living.

7. They should be given a onetime kit with utensils, mattresses, pillows and other bedding clothes, buckets, stoves, 2 pairs of clothes immediately so that they could cook food at their home.

With regards,

Kavita Srivastava
(General Secretary)
PUCL, Rajasthan

This note was prepared on the basis of the interviews and field work of the following PUCL volunteers and interns. : Bhanwar Lal Kumawat, Eklavya Vasudev, Akshit, Devika,  Suyash, Jugal, Pranav, Rahul kumar,  Rahul khanna, Kartika, Sonal, Tamanna, Nishit, Sudhanshu.