7306 Pakistanis await Indian citizenship, says MHA

NEW DELHI: Around 70 percent of applications pending for Indian citizenship are from Pakistanis, according to data provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). In a reply to the details of current applicants for Indian citizenship, including the data of their current citizenship asked by Member of Parliament Abdul Wahab on Wednesday, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai mentioned that out of the 10,635 applicants who applied for Indian citizenship till December 14, 2021, as many as 7,306 were from Pakistan.

There were 1,152 applications pending from Afghanistan, followed by 428 from Stateless, 223 from Srilanka and USA, 189 from Nepal and 161 from Bangladesh, the minister said As many as 10 applicants from China had applied for Indian citizenship.

The power to grant Indian citizenship lies with the MHA which approves the application after detailed verification and scrutiny.