Bhati Mines: Hindu refugees from Pak live here in abject penury

Popularly known as ‘Pakistani Mohalla’ in South Delhi’s Bhati Mines area, the residents of this locality live without any basic civic amenities and citizenship rights. 

They work as daily wage labourers; children have no access to school and work as child labour in nearby colonies with no roof or medical facilities.

Despite living in abject penury, they do not wish to go back. They say their life here is better than what it was in Karachi and other parts of Pakistan.

The migrants started settling near Bhati Mines about two decades back. The latest group of around 150 families arrived two years back. 

At present, there are around 8,000 refugees residing in this 128-acre illegal colony where they do not have access to safe drinking water, electricity or basic medical facilities.

“I am happy to be in India. It is a sin to be a Hindu if you are living in Pakistan. The life of a non-Muslim is hell out there. You are bound to behave like a Muslim. Many Hindus change their name and attire to avoid the increasing atrocities upon them,” said Sangeeta, a 40-year-old woman who migrated in 2013.

“We are not Pakistani. We are Hindu. India is our country. Please do not discriminate against us because we lived in Pakistan after the partition,” said 34-year-old Maneer Lal, a resident of Hyderabad in Sindh who has migrated to India. 

Lal further added that the Indian government was not giving them citizenship even after spending 11 years in Delhi. Out of his four children, three do not go to school because they do not have any identity proof. However, he managed to get  his 14-year-old son admitted in a government school after bribing the school staff.

The residents of the nearby colony allegedly charge Rs 500 per day to light a bulb in the evening. As the colony does not have basic amenities, so the residents of the Pakistani Mohalla are compelled to buy electricity from those houses that have authorised connections. 

Whenever there is any communal tension or ceasefire violation across the borders, we are targeted as we were once  part of Pakistan. The situation is similar in 

Pakistan too. 

“With growing communal intolerance in India, Hindus in Pakistan are the biggest victims,” said Jawahar Lal (45) who has a house in Sindh in Pakistan.

Those who have already migrated to India and living at places like Bhati Mines, Chhatarpur regularly get phone calls from frantic relatives in Pakistan to check if they are fine.