BJP gives Rs 10 lakh financial aid to Pakistani Hindus

Delhi BJP today extended financial help of Rs 10 lakh to a group of Pakistani Hindus who came to India to attend Kumbh festival around two months ago and later expressed willingness to stay back here.
Handing over the cash amount to the group comprised of around 480 persons, Delhi BJP unit chief Vijay Goel said the party had decided to extend the financial help as they were facing lot of hardships in meeting their expenses.
The group is currently staying at Bijwasan area in South West Delhi.
Goel said the the group had met BJP national president Rajnath Singh few days ago and told him him that they do not want to go back to Pakistan.

"After meeting them, our national president had decided to extend financial help to them," Goel said, reiterating the party's demand for granting refugee status to them.
Goel said the Centre should resort to rigorous efforts to rehabilitate such persons, who are coming in large numbers to permanently settle in India.

"We are raising this issue since years that Pakistani Hindus should be rehabilitated in India as they are not ready to return to Pakistan owing to hostilities being faced by them there. India should fulfil her promise it had made to them at the time division of the country," Goel said.

Members of the group who belong to Sindh province of Pakistan had entered India through Rajasthan border to attend Kumbh festival in March.
Initially, they were granted one-month visa, which expired on April 8. After reaching India, they wanted to stay back. The government was yet to take a decision on their plea. Their visa was extended by one month and it is going to expire on May 8.
Nehru Lal, a resident of Hyderabad in Sindh, said conditions were quite hostile for Hindus to live in Pakistan and demanded that they should be granted Indian citizenship.
"India should decide it urgently as our visa is expiring on May 8," he said.