Indian grants citizenship to 2,000 Pakistanis

New Delhi—A total of 2,366 Pakistani nationals have been given Indian citizenship by the home ministry in the last three years and over 13,000 Pakistanis given long-term visas.
In a statement to parliament earlier this week, Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said that Persons of Indian Origin, which also includes Pakistani nationals, are considered for residency under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955, reports IANS.
The number of Pakistani nationals given citizenship could be higher as figures are not available for the bordering states of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
“No centralised data is maintained of statewise details of Indian citizenship granted,” Jaiswal said. Madhya Pradesh tops the list with 3,741 Pakistani nationals staying with long-term visas, followed by Delhi with 2,517 and Maharashtra - 2,167, as on Sep 30.—Agencies