As UP Becomes 1st State to Begin CAA Implementation, 40,000 Refugees Identified; Maximum in Pilibhit

Lucknow/New Delhi: Becoming the first state to begin process for implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act, Uttar Pradesh has reportedly sent a list of largely Hindu refugees living across 19 districts in the state to the Union home ministry. The data shows 40,000 non-Muslim illegal immigrants live in UP. Of these, 30,000 to 35,000 are in Pilibhit district alone.

News agency PTI stated that the 116-page report — "Uttar Pradesh Mein Aaye Pakistan, Afghanistan Evam Bangladesh ke Sharnarthiyon ki Aapbeeti Kahani — by NGO Nagrik Adhikar Manch details the personal stories of the refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The report has been sent it to the state and the Centre.

The state government has not confirmed whether it was taking the report into account or not.

"This is an ongoing process, will keep on updating the figures. All District Magistrates have been asked to carry out surveys and keep on updating list. We are in process of sharing this list with the Union home ministry too," a report by a leading news channel quoted state minister Shrikant Sharma as saying.

The report has found that there are around 40,000 non-Muslim illegal immigrants in UP, mostly in the 19 districts of Agra, Rae Bareli, Saharanpur, Gorakhpur, Aligarh, Rampur, Muzaffarnagar, Hapur, Mathura, Kanpur, Pratapgarh, Varanasi, Amethi, Jhansi, Bahraich, Lakhimpur Kheri, Lucknow, Meerut and Pilibhit. However, the exact number is yet to be disclosed by the state government.

A newspaper report quoted its government sources as saying that the testimonies of various families in the report reveal the circumstances in which the families had to move to India, largely from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

CM Yogi Adityanath was recently spotted in his hometown Gorakhpur as he arrived there to "dispel doubts" about the Act. He said the move was in line with India's tradition of giving shelter to persecuted people.

Adityanath's deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya, who took part in a similar drive in Moradabad, hit out at the opposition parties, saying they were trying to misguide the public against the citizenship law to create unrest in the state.

A month ago, the protests against the amended Citizenship law had turned violent with certain groups indulging in arson and clashing with police. The large-scale vandalism killed nearly 19 in the state and disrupted rail and road traffic.

The Centre last week had issued a gazette notification announcing that the CAA has come into effect from January 10, 2020. The Act grants citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.