How many Afghan refugees have returned from India?
From India we’ve had close to 600 Afghans who have gone back — from 2002 till today. Can refugees get Indian citizenship? Local integration means naturalised citizenship but legally you still remain a refugee because you are not a national of this country and have the refugee tag. The Hindus and Sikhs from Afghanistan who came to India after the Taliban came to power are the bulk of our caseload here. In that way it is unusual because when one thinks of Afghan refugees — you think of Hazaras, Pasthuns etc — the stereotypical image of the Afghan refugees but in India of the 9,200 Afghan refugees, 8,500 are Hindus and Sikhs. These are interested in naturalised citizenship and more than a hundred have become Indian citizens and 4,000 have expressed an interest. Naturalisation is, of course, an individual process, you can’t apply as a family or a group of people. Our procedure and law is that you have to wait 12 years till you apply for Indian citizenship. Most of the Afghans who came h
