23 Hindus return to Pakistan from Jodhpur

After a group of 40 immigrants from Sangad district in Pakistan returned to the neighbouring country on June 27, another batch of 23 people from Umarkot on the other side of the border boarded the Thar Express here today as they went back to their homes.

Like all those Hindus coming from Pakistan to India in anticipation of getting a shelter, they also had landed here in July this year and were determined to settle but they chose to go back today.

One of the members of this group, Kheto Singh said that it took them a year to get the visa clearance for India and paid Rs 1,500 per member instead of Rs 350, but from the moment, we landed here, we were just treated as outsiders and were made to believe at every step that we are not acceptable here.

A group of 129 Hindus had landed in Jodhpur in July with a 20 days visa of Haridwar but willing to stay in Jaipur, they had applied for Long Term Visa (LTV) and Additional Visa for Jaipur.

"But we were denied the same and forced to go back as our papers were not accepted," said Singh.

Hindu Singh Sodha of Seemant Lok Sangthan, fighting for the welfare and citizenship related issues of these people since long, attributed this to the absence of a receiving mechanism for these people.

"Neither they have been provided with any shelter here nor they find anyone on this land, who could hear their woes," Sodha said.