CAA or not: 2063 Pakistanis, 188 Afghanis, 97 Bangladeshis granted Indian citizenship in four years

SRINAGAR: Forget  Citizenship Amendment Act  ( CAA), the government of India has granted citizenship to 2664 foreigners of whom 77 percent were Pakistanis.

In an RTI reply, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said a total of 2664 foreigners of 43 countries have been granted Citizenship by its Foreigners Division in the last four years. The RTI was filed by Jammu-based activist Raman Sharma.

Pakistan tops the list of the people granted Indian citizenship. Of the 2664 foreigners granted citizenship, 2063 were Pakistanis. It was by Afghanis. Nearly 188 Afghan Nationals were granted Indian Citizenship. Bangladeshis rank third with 97 nationals getting Indian Citizenship.

During the current year, 328 Pakistanis,  one Afghani, and three Bangladeshi were given Indian Citizenship.

Data further reveals that people from across the globe have shown interest to acquire  Indian citizenship. Around 59 Americans, 19 Britishers,   19 Malaysians, 14 Canadians, 13 Singaporean, 6 Germans, 4 Australians, 3 French, 3 Italians, 2 Chinese, 1 Israeli and 1 Russian were granted Indian nationality from January 1, 2017, to August 3, 2020.

The list of foreign nationals who were granted Indian citizenship include 57 Sri Lankans, 32 Nepalese, 8 Iranians, 2 Zambians, 3 Portuguese, 2 South Africans and once each from Moldova, Jamaica, Eritrea, Chile, Poland, Kazakhstan and the Czech.

It is pertinent to mention here that between 2011 and 2016, a total of 5477 foreigners acquired Indian citizenship. Those include 2157 Pakistanis, 1461 stateless, 918 Afghanis, 218 Bangladeshis, 108 Sri Lankans, 66 Iranians, 145 Britishers,k and 61 Americans and 15  Chinese. Between 2011 and 2020, 8141 foreigners have been granted Indian citizenship by the Centre.

The new revelations come against the backdrop of the Citizenship Amendment Act  (CAA) passed by the parliament last year. Under CAA, the persecuted minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan can be granted Indian citizenship.