'What’s in a (sur)name': For Pakistani immigrants, it could lead to faster Indian citizenship

NAGPUR: Srichand Mandhan, in his 50s, is among the 200 Pakistanis who gained Indian citizenship in the last one year, after staying for decades in India, through the regular process of naturalisation. The much-touted Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which came into effect this year, is yet to help any immigrants become citizens.
Mandhan, who hails from Ghotki town in Pakistan's Sindh province, and others also got their voting cards and are now eligible to vote in the assembly elections. Last week, they were addressed by community leaders, encouraging them to exercise their franchise.
Like Mandhan, Ravikumar Kukreja from Mirpur Mathelo and Ravi Nagdev from Usta Mohammed in Balochistan province too are among the latest additions to the voters' list. They all got Indian nationality through the normal process of naturalisation. The CAA has not been effective due to technical problem, including their names on the documents, they say.
Naturalisation calls for 12 years of stay in India, while CAA has a shorter process. Most of the citizenship applicants are Hindus from Sindh. If the Sindhi people are known for their distinct surnames in India, back in their homeland Pakistan, they face a kind of identity crisis, say community members. In their documents, including Pakistani passports, their names are simply suffixed with a Kumar for men or Bai or Devi for women. The authorities simply ignore their surnames and issue passports or identity cards with the first name and Kumar or Bai, claim the immigrants.
Starting lives afresh in India as they apply under CAA, a number of applicants have also added their surnames in the forms, only for the file to be rejected. The forms have to be uploaded in the citizenship portal and then verified with the original documents. Since the passports have no surnames, but the form mentions one, there is a mismatch, and the case is rejected. Over 150 to 160 applications have been rejected in Nagpur, with some pending even now. There is none in Nagpur possibly who got Indian nationality under CAA, said a source involved in the official process.
Rajesh Jhambia, secretary of Sindh Hindu Panchayat, the NGO which helps the immigrants, says in Pakistan there is no practice of adding surnames in the documents. In India, it is a part of the social practice. As the immigrants assimilate into Indian culture, even they are preferring to have surnames fixed to their names. "It's also a matter of asserting their identity. Having just the first name can lead to complications in procedures related to school admissions or other work. In India, just a Kumar or a Bai is not enough after the name. In some cases, even the middle name is missing in the Pakistani papers," says Jhambia.
Moreover, adding surnames is not new. Earlier, when citizenship was obtained through the home ministry, a surname could be added even if it was not there in the original papers issued in Pakistan, he said.
Even as some get citizenship under the regular process, there are families where some members are still waiting for their turn to get Indian nationality, said community sources.