The nowhere people: Pakistan Hindu refugees in India await a normal life

Pakistani Hindus have been coming to India as they are a persecuted religious minority in their country

The tiny whitewashed temple rises up in the desert, its red pennant fluttering in the sky, surrounded by scores of mud and thatch houses. From one of them, a young girl in a traditional Rajasthani ghagra peeps out. 

She’s nursing an infant and has a toddler in tow. She looks like an underage bride and a far too young mother but issues of premature marriage and motherhood seem inconsequential compared to what she is facing.

The girl belongs to one of the 170 households in Aanganwa village outside Jodhpur. According to Jodhpur-based Universal Just Action Society (UJAS), which is advocating on behalf