Pakistani Christian gets Indian citizenship under Citizenship Amendment Act

GOA: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday presented a certificate of Indian citizenship to Joseph Francis Perera, a 78-year-old Pakistani Christian, making him the first recipient from the state under the amended citizenship law.

Perera, originally from Goa, moved to Pakistan for education before India‘s independence and later acquired Pakistani citizenship. After working in Karachi for several years, he returned to India in 2013. Despite marrying a woman from Goa, he faced difficulties in getting Indian citizenship until the Modi government amended the citizenship law in 2019.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, passed in December 2019, grants Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014. It includes Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians.

Perera, who was born in 1946, now resides with his family in Cansolim in South Goa. The certificate states that he is registered as a citizen of India under section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955, fulfilling the conditions under section 5 (1)(c) from the date of entry into India.

CM Sawant highlighted that while Perera is the first Goa to receive this certificate, many people across India have benefited from the amended Citizenship Act. He assured that the Goa Home Department is actively identifying eligible persons and encouraged anyone meeting the criteria to approach the government for assistance.