Fourteen-year-old Dharampal is a fan of Heropanti star Tiger Shroff and he wants to become an engineer. There’s a serious roadblock that dream is facing though. “Our teachers say that the  government had given orders to teach us only till standard eight,” Dharampal. Earlier this year, at the start of the new session, he and his friends were told to stop attending the government school where they were studying. Why? Because Dharampal’s only ID is a Pakistani passport.

All this, though, could change soon. According the Ministry of Home Affairs notification, the Centre is considering simplifying the procedures of granting citizenship to religious minorities from Pakistan living on Long Term Visa in India. This would mean providing them basic rights of citizenship by issuing Aadhar cards, PAN cards, and allowing them to buy property.

Dharampal lives in the Pakistani Hindu refugee resettlement colony, near the Majnu Ka Tilla gurudwara. The area is famous as the address of  one of the most vibrant Tibetan re-settlements in India and is now home to 120 Hindu families from Pakistan too. The Tibetan colony, called Aruna Nagar (I&II) is organised, has electricity and water connections, markets, and a monastery. Its residents have identity certificates, issued by the Delhi-based Bureau of His Holiness Dalai Lama, and those born between 1950-87 are also eligible for Indian citizenship.

In contrast is the Pakistani-Hindu refugee colony, 500 meters away from Aruna Nagar. Over 700 people live here, in reed and bamboo huts, with tarpaulin sheets providing water-proofing to those who can afford it.  They’re fragile dwellings, pieced together with bamboo, twigs and branches. Other Pakistani Hindu refugees settlements are scattered across Delhi NCR, in Adarsh Nagar, Rohini Sector 11 and Faridabad. The one in Majnu ka Tilla settlement was set up in 2011, when the first group of Hindu families from Pakistan crossed the border.

The Pakistani-Hindu refugees have been coming to India in waves across 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015. All the residents of the Majnu ka Tilla colony belong to the warrior Rajput community and strictly follow the caste system.

Life in Pakistan was fraught with insecurities for this community. For Bhagwanti Devi, Majnu ka Tilla offers her a safer home than her pucca house on a one-acre plot in Hyderabad, Pakistan. She said she was forced to abandon it because of the constant fear and humiliation that she faced. For Hindus living in Pakistan, experiences like the abduction of Hindu girls and forced conversation have made them feel more vulnerable than ever before.

Speaking about being a Hindu in Pakistan compared to being a Muslim in India, both Daya Ram and Laxman, now residents of Majnu ka Tilla, said that there’s greater respect for minorities in India. “In India, Muslims are treated with much respect, they are given fair opportunity and have representation in government jobs,” said Daya Ram. “You hardly find Hindus in the Pakistani establishment.” He said that they were “treated like untouchables” in Pakistan and were abused whenever the Indian cricket team defeated Pakistan’s team. When asked which country’s cricket team they’d support in an India-Pakistan contest, Daya exclaimed, “India!”

The transition from their lives in Pakistan to this refugee existence in India has been riddled with hardship. According to Sona Das, one of the seven pradhan (leaders) of the Hindu refugee settlement at Majnu Ka Tilla, the first group reached Delhi  in 2011. “Humara 152 logon ka jatta baba ke dere par aa ke ruke the,” he said.  (“Our group of 152 arrived at  the baba’s door.) Initially, they lived in tents and jhuggis made of tarpaulin sheets. “We shifted to this place only 15 months back,” said the father of five sons and one daughter.

“The police kept pushing us for first 30 days,” said Laxman Das, who now works as a trader in Azadpur Mandi, the largest fruit and vegetable wholesale market in Delhi. “We were under constant pressure to vacate this place. A few Sindhi traders helped me to get this job at Azadpur Mandi.” Like him, most of Pakistan’s Hindu refugees are from the Sindh province.

Laxman had to wait three years to get a VISA for his entire family (over 20 members).  The reason cited in the VISA application was pilgrimage, but the intention was clear: the Hindus of Pakistan were coming home.

“The moment we left Pakistan, we had already accepted India as our homeland,” said Sona. “Now it is up to the Indian establishment whether they want to accept us or not. He said that Pakistan denied them “the honour of serving the nation.” Now he hopes to serve the country, “let us and our generations do something for this country.”

Sona said the Pakistani Hindu community was thankful to groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Hindu Mahasabha which stood with them when the Centre was planning to send them back in 2011. They got food rations and other aid from these organisations. But over time, the interest of these groups has waned.

The refugees say they don’t want charity, but they’d like Indian citizenship and identity cards, which they hope will remove the hurdles they face in India today. “We don’t want to beg, we are hard working people and know how to earn our bread,” said Das adding that many of them were educated and were well-settled in Pakistan. Laxman claimed  that he used to earn commissions as high as 50,000 Pakistani Rupees and now earns Rs 300-400 (INR) daily. Without identification that declares them Indian, the refugees end up doing odd jobs, like selling mobile covers.

The worst hit are the children since their schooling comes to a halt as early as Class Nine. Teenagers like Dharampal and Mahesh have abruptly had to stop their studies. Without identification papers, these children cannot continue their education. They’re left with little to do and just roam around the settlement area. “Our main concern is education, job and electricity,” said Daya Ram.

Bhagwanti, who came to India with her husband and two children, said, “The Indian government has not  done anything for Hindus. No ration, no electricity and no job.” (By Hindus, she means the Pakistani refugees.) The  families have been struggling to beat the Delhi heat, and electricity is a luxury. A generator set has been installed by the government and it supplies  electricity between 7pm and 1am. The residents schedule their studies, cooking and television watching are accordingly. This generator was installed after the residents  approached different political leaders.

The water situation is better since it is available round the clock. “We met [Delhi Chief Minister Arvind] Kejriwal,” said Das. “After the meeting, a permanent tap was installed, replacing the limited supply by Delhi Jal Board tankers. He also said that Delhi government had placed couple of mobile toilets for the residents.  The only problem is that there is one single tap for 120 families.

Representatives of the refugee community have met many senior political leaders like LK Advani and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who assured them of a permanent solution. Nothing has happened so far and although they’ve left persecution behind, their expectations from the “Hindu-majority state” are yet to be met. Das, however, remains hopeful, especially since he says they’ve found a hero. “Modi is lion of India,” he said. “He is working for Hindus. Our blessings are with him.”

The author can be contacted on Twitter @amit_bhardwaz