Asianet NewsableAsianet Newsable

298 Indian emigrants granted Pakistani citizenship since 2012

  • Pakistan has claimed that it has granted citizenship to 298 Indians emigrants.
  • The data consists of emigrants granted citizenship from 2012 till April 14, 2017.
298 Indian emigrants have been granted Pakistani citizenship

Pakistani government has claimed that in the last five years it has granted nationality to at least 298 Indian emigrants

The country's interior ministry made the claim on Saturday and since then it has been the report has been carried in several newspapers in the country.

"From 2012 till April 14, 2017, a total number of 298 Indian emigrants have been granted Pakistani citizenship," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The statement was issued in response to a question by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmaker Sheikh Rohail Asghar in the National Assembly, the Express Tribune reported.

In 2012, 48 Indian emigrants were granted Pakistani nationality, which rose to 75 in 2013 and 76 in 2014. Only 15 were given nationality in 2015, while 69 got it in 2016, until April 14 this year, 15 Indians got nationality, the statement said.

Pakistan is believed to be a country where getting nationality has always been a difficult task, but innumerable illegal immigrants from many countries, especially India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Burma, are living here, it added.

There is one well-known case of awarding Pakistani nationality to an Indian national in the recent past. An Indian woman, whose husband died years ago, was granted Pakistani citizenship on the order of former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in March last year.

Her citizenship application had been pending with the ministry since 2008. The woman had been married to a Pakistani man a long time back. After his death, her stepsons allegedly deprived her of her inheritance. 

In the past there have been reports that several wanted criminals including Dawood Ibrahim have been granted Pakistani citizenship. A 2002 report had said that India's plan to deport 20 wanted criminals including Dawood Ibrahim suffered a major setback after the country granted them citizenship.

The report had claimed that besides Dawood Ibrahim, his aide, Chhota Shakeel, and Tiger Memon were also been granted citizenship by the Pakistani authorities. 

 

(With PTI inputs)

Follow Us:
Download App:
  • android
  • ios