In addition to its weathered Bhunga, a circular mud hut with a thatched roof, on the edge of the Zura – sparse, sunlight, the Earth in the Gujarat district of Kutch – Sooroji Kanji Sodha, 70, exhales as if to release 16 years of retention. “It’s like the second birth,” he says, his voice stable, but grim. He and his wife, Taja Kaur, were recognized as Indian citizens 25 July, along with 183 other Pakistani nationals in Gujarat.
In 2009, Sooroji left his Janmabhoomi (his country of birth) in the Tharparka district of Pakistan’s province of Sindh. The decision cost him nearly 40 hectares of land, his livestock and the way of life that his family knew for generations. He and his wife and eight children got on the train to India to seek dignity and a better future, he says. “Leaving my Watan (Earth) has never been easy,” says Sooroji, who now earns 300 ₹ a day as a daily bet. “But I did it for my children. Especially for my daughters.”
The couple SODHA and others received Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Act (amendment), 2019 (CAA). CAA rules were announced in March 2024, just before the elections from Lok Sabha in India. CAA provides a way to citizenship for the persecuted non-Muslim minority (Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Jain, Buddhist and Christian)-and documented and undocumented-from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan that arrived in India 31 December 2014.
In the districts of Rajkot, Morbi and Kutch, many claim that waiting for citizenship has been stretched for ten years and forces families to live in a constant state of legal and social limbo. A man in Morbi, who also acquired Indian citizenship, says: “We were here a minority. Here until we get our civil documents, we are no one.”
Just before Covid-19 regulations came into force in March 2020, protests against CAA throughout India were held and claimed that it was a discriminatory nature against Muslims. The Bharatiya Janata party, which leans towards Hindutva and its allies, was in power. The same party is now in power, both in the middle and gujarat.
Minority report
It was not only religious persecution and looting, he explains the sooroji, but the limitation of their future as a minority that managed his decision. In their native region, most of the Rajput families carried the surname of Sodha, which makes it difficult to find appropriate marital matches for their children because of the standards that discourage marriage in the same enlarged clan. “There were no jades in Pakistan, no parmars, no above -alls that we could take our children,” he says, annoys his yellow turban around his head. “These families are in India, not in Pakistan.”
The Zura camp, where Sooroji lives, was originally established shortly after division in 1947 to concept the Hindu refugees from the Sindh province. Over time, he became home to those who migrated during the later periods of unrest, especially around the 1971 Indo -Pak War. For many people like Sooroji, he meant living in the camp of Limbo – waiting for citizenship and waiting for belonging.
He shone his certificate and says, “Now I can say that I am an Indian – not only in my heart but also on paper. Now I hope my children will also get my citizenship on the basis of my documents and can work in this country with pride.”
Data accessible from the Directorate for People’s Census, Gandhinagar, show that 1,050 Pakistani nationals settled in Gujarat – 537 men and 513 women – are subject to law between July 2, 2024 and 22. July 2025. and patano) and patano and patan) and patan) and patan) and patan) and patan) and patan. In addition, separate data from the Gujarat Government show that since 2018, Indian citizenship has been granted up to 1,386 Pakistani nationals through discretional powers given to district collectors.
Meet Pakistani nationals granted by Indian citizenship
Meet Pakistani nationals who have granted Indian citizenship | Video Credit: Abhinay Deshpande, Tayyab Hussaain
Most of them traveled to India visiting a visa, without the intention of returning. They booked unidirectional tickets for the now exchanged weekly Thar Express, an international passenger train that ran between Bhagat Ki Kothi in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and Karachi in Pakistan. Immigration and customs equipment were located at the Munabao station on the Indian side.
The service was suspended in August 2019 after the deterioration of diplomatic ties between the two countries after the Indian government abolished the special status of Jamm and Kashmir and reorganized the state into two trade unions.
Caste
Six -hour ride from Zura camp in Rajkot, Savilith Fufal, 44 years, mother, is preparing to go to dinner with her husband with her husband Vishan and their son Jignes, 12 August, 5th August. It is a quiet celebration, far from life that remained ten years ago ten years ago, he says.
In May 2013, only nine months after the marriage, Vishan, now the hotelier, left Karachi and move to India with seven family members, including Saviith, his mother, sister and four relatives from his brother’s family. Saviith’s four siblings still live in Pakistan and remain in contact with them regularly through video calls.
Savilitha sits in a small living room of their rented house and remembers the emotional weight of leaving his country. “It was hard to leave,” he says, “but it wasn’t easy either.” The couple originally came to India on a tourist visa and later asked and constantly renewed their long -term visa (LTV). “Things were not safe there, especially for women. We lived in fear of theft, religious persecution and general uncertainty. At that time we decided to leave.”
Savita Fufal lifted the citizenship certificate in her home in Rajkot. | Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji
Savitha is one of the four people who have been granted citizenship under discrete authority of district collectors. “I’m proud to be calling an Indian now,” she said with a smile. He adds that her husband’s brother and his family eventually returned to Karach after spending some time in India. “They were not comfortable here. They felt more connected to their relatives at home,” he says.
Saviitha remembers that she could not attend the funeral of her father in 2015. “I could only go in 2017, after we managed to get a visa for my son,” he says. Her husband never returned.
The family belongs to the community in India classified as a planned caste (SC). Given the absence of documentation, however, her son will not receive any of the benefits of social security that the community can claim.
Another citizen of the reversed migrants, Manoj Parmar, 49, who is working at a gasoline station in Rajkot, says he learned the caste system-and his community falls under the planned kasty-on arrival in India. His great -grandfather moved from Botad to Karachi in search of work after a heavy drought and eventually settled there. Before moving to India in February 2012, Manoj worked at Karachi Electric Supply Company.
“There, my subordinator would also refuse to follow my work instructions and offend me because of my religion. I thought,” If this is my condition, even though she has been educating what happens to my children? “The situation just got worse, so I came to India,” he says. “Now my kids want to reserve rights.”
The rules and regulations
CAA rules authorize the Central Government officials deployed in the states – including functions from the Directorate for the Census Operations, India Post, Railways, National Informatics (Nothing) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) – to treat and process citizenship requests.
As soon as the application is submitted online, the applicant must appear before the District Level Committee headed by the Postal Office as a designated officer. The committee also includes representatives of nothing, IB, Railways and District Administration.
“The process is usually completed within a few weeks, including prefesting IB verification, but if there are errors in the application – such as non -conforming names or problems with support documents – applicants are informed and asked to make the necessary repairs before sending,” says India post in Bhuj.
According to the official, 18 people from the Kutch district have been granted citizenship within CAA and 97 other applications are in the pipeline. “District officials informed us that there are now only 115 Pakistani nationals, including 97, whose applications are currently waiting. The rest has not yet been subject,” adds the official.
Waiting to open the gates
For children waiting for citizenship, life is to grow up in a country they call home but do not belong. They cannot accept admission to government schools and do not have access to reservations in education and jobs.
Sending children abroad is difficult. Younger brother Sooroji, Laxmansinh Sodha, 53, a graduate of the Medical Faculty with the title of MBBS, who now runs a Morbi clinic, says his son Mehtsinh, 17, – qualified for Neet – Russia – to Russia, Russia, Russia, to Russia, Russia, Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, India. “But it didn’t work either because he didn’t have an Indian passport.” His education shows that he comes from India while his passport is from Pakistan. “Now we have written him in the LLB program at a private university. His citizenship is still waiting.”
Laxmansinh Sodha (right) and Netsinh Sodha, in Morbi. Laxmansinh has a clinic in Morbi while Netsinh runs a cloth trade. , Photo credit: Vijay Soneji
Laxmannsinh migrated to India in November 2012 and citizenship was awarded at the beginning of this year. His first visit to India was in 1971, recalls when he was only six months old. During the war, his parents fled to India and hid in the Zura camp for almost three years. Due to limited facilities in the camp and lack of livelihood, the family eventually returned to Tharparkar in Pakistan. “For almost 10 years I practiced medicine there and left everything behind and came to India and feared forced conversions and attacks on Hindu,” he explains.
Sitting next to him is Netsinh Sodha, 56 years old, who once worked as a pathware (accounting village) in the district of Tharparkar. In May 2014 he left his government work and in May 2014 moved to India and seven children. He has now settled in Morbi, runs a substance trade and is one of those who have been granted Indian citizenship.
While Netsinh welcomes Caa, he raises concerns about the implementing process and claims that employees who participate in applications often annoy applicants. “The law clearly states that even a single document or an entry stamp to enter the document is sufficient to apply for citizenship within CAA, but many officials do not have clarity on the basis of the provision. As a result, many migrants face unnecessary obstacles,” he says.
“Applicants are forced to submit their forms five to 10 times on minor questions. This is something the government must urgently solve.” He says that many Hindus are still “stuck” in a neighboring country and are waiting for the authorities to re -issue a visa. In April 2025, after the Pahalgam attack, India suspended Visa Services to Pakistani nationals.
Deshpande.abhinay@thehind.co.in
Edit Sunalini Mathew
