Moving from a minority to a majority

Kesari Bagri, a Pakistani Hindu in a Delhi refugee camp, fears for her family's future amid India-Pakistan tensions.

Warding off flies with one hand, and holding a weathered mobile phone in another, Kesari Bagri, 40, tries hard to keep her tears from brimming over. She is speaking to her ageing parents, both in their 70s, over a video call. They live in a village in Hyderabad division, Sindh, Pakistan; she is in one of the refugee camps in Rohini, north-west Delhi.

Since the political escalation between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack in Kashmir that killed 26, Kesari has tried speaking to her parents every day over a call even if for a minute. She is worried about their future in a country where Islam is a state religion and Hindus, a religious minority. As per Pakistan’s 2023 census, 3.8 million Hindus live there, up from 3.5 million in 2017, constituting 1.6% of the population, the Press Trust of India had reported in 2024.

Each time Kesari disconnects the phone, she wonders whether it is the last time she speaks to them. She is one of the hundreds of Pakistani Hindus whose lives continue to move in a rhythm matching that of the improving or worsening relationship between the two neighbouring countries.

“When the government first said all those who hold Pakistani passports need to go back, we were nervous since nobody at the camp has got Indian citizenship yet (under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019),” says Kesari, whose camp has 300 people as per the camp head.

Despite the escalations and the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) orders directing Pakistani nationals to leave the country by April 29 or face imprisonment for three years, the Pakistani Hindu community was assured that they would not be deported, she adds. Over the media accessed over their phones, they heard that those holding long-term visas (LTVs) could stay. The MHA also clarified that Hindus from Pakistan who had sent their applications for LTVs could stay on.

The MHA’s annual 2023-24 report says that 1,112 LTVs had been granted to members of minority communities from Pakistan that financial year. Hindu Singh Sodha, the president of the Seemant Lok Sangathan, a group that advocates for the rights of Pakistani minority migrants in India, says that there are 10,000 Pakistani Hindus whose LTV application is pending with the MHA for more than two years.

Over the past couple of weeks, India and Pakistan have suspended ties, and India has expelled Pakistani diplomats. India banned the import of all goods originating in or transitioning through Pakistan. The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 was suspended and restrictions imposed on Pakistan’s use of Indian airspace. No Pakistani mercantile ship is now allowed into Indian waters and no Indian ship will dock at a Pakistani port. Pakistan also halted all trade with India, closed its airspace to Indian aircraft and expelled diplomats.