Nagpur's Pakistani Immigrant Anxious About his CAA Application
Nagpur, India- Pakistani immigrant Pradeep Haswani, who currently lives in Nagpur, was one of the first to apply for Indian citizenship online the day the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was implemented on March 11. On Wednesday, the government granted citizenship certificates to 300 people under the CAA, but Haswani is still unsure if he has become an Indian citizen.
Union Home Secretary A K Bhalla personally handed out citizenship certificates to 14 individuals, while the others received theirs online. Haswani, however, received an email instructing him to appear on May 22 with his original documents. The email did not specify the location.
Similarly, Sagar Wadhwa, whose family crossed the Pakistani border on December 31, 2014—the cutoff date for CAA eligibility—received an identical email. Wadhwa applied for citizenship just after Haswani.
The CAA became effective five years after the bill was passed in Parliament, as the rules were only recently notified. Following this notification, many Pakistani Hindu immigrants in Nagpur prepared their documents to apply. Around 30 applications have been submitted so far, with 400 more expected soon, according to community sources. Early applicants like Haswani are still waiting for progress on their cases as the government begins issuing citizenship certificates under the CAA.
Nagpur is one of five districts in Maharashtra where the district collectorate has the authority to approve citizenship cases. The relevant department has over 600 pre-CAA applications to process, but no CAA applications have yet reached the collectorate’s home department desk, which handles citizenship cases, according to a source.
Once an online application is submitted, the documents are sent to the home department for police and intelligence review. Nearly all applications received at the Nagpur collectorate are from Hindus from Pakistan’s Sindh province. Since December 2020, more than 790 people have been granted citizenship through the normal process, while over 600 cases from before the CAA remain pending at various stages, according to district collectorate sources. An official at the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) stated that cases are being processed without delay.
The CAA covers immigrants such as Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists, and Jains who came to India before December 31, 2014, and simplifies the process for obtaining citizenship. Most immigrants are Pakistani Hindus from the Sindh province, who arrive on long-term visas and later apply for citizenship. Normally, nationality can be granted after residing in India for 12 years.
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