[Dhaka Tribune] A total of 158 Pak Hindu nationals have been issued Indian citizenship while 3,733 were granted Long Term Visas (LTV) since the Narendra Modi led government announced the setting up of Special Task Force in September last year.According to a report of The Economic Times, 26 camps of the Task Force were organised in 26 districts across India during which 1,681 applications for citizenship and 1,665 for LTV were approved till May this year.
In a statement, an Indian Home Ministry front man said: "While citizenship has been granted to 158 Pak nationals, LTV has been granted to as many as 3,733 Pak nationals during the period," Home Ministry front man said in a statement.
"There are thousands of applications pending before the government for granting visa for a longer term."
Indian Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had approved the setting up of the Task Force under the Joint Secretary (Foreigners) to monitor and expedite processing of citizenship and LTV applications in September last year.
The Task Force, comprising four Consultants, had held interactive sessions in a number of cities across the country having concentrations of Hindus from neighbouring countries to monitor and expedite grant of citizenship and LTV and addressed public grievances, the front man said.
The Indian government has also rolled out an online system for submission of LTV applications by eligible Pak nationals and for its processing by various agencies.
The front man said: "The Pak nationals eligible for LTV can now submit the applications online and it will enable the applicants to track their applications and help in speedy processing.
"The manual system of submission of applications LTV will continue along with the online system for a period of three months but from August one, all applications for LTVs will be received and processed online."
There are about 400 Pak Hindu refugee settlements in cities like Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Jaipur while most of the Hindu refugees from Bangladesh live in West Bengal and some in Northeastern states.
There are around 100,000 Hindu refugees from Pakistain, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in India, according to officials.