MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI MULLAPPALLY RAMACHANDRAN)
(a): India is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees
and the 1967 Protocol thereon. There is no national law on Refugees at present. Government
has circulated a Standard Operating Procedure for dealing with foreign nationals who claim to
be refugees to all State Governments/ Union Territories on 29th December, 2011. This Standing
Operating Procedure stipulate that cases, which are prima facie justified on the grounds of a
well founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, sex, nationality, ethnic identity,
membership of a particular social group or political opinion, can be recommended by the FRROs/
FROs to the Ministry of Home Affairs for grant of Long Term Visa after due enquiry.
(b) & (c) : As per information available, some Pakistani nationals belonging to minority
communities in Pakistan, who had come to India on valid travel documents, have not gone
back to Pakistan on the grounds of religious persecution in Pakistan. Statistical data of
the number of such Pakistani nationals living in India and the data on Bangladeshi nationals
who have migrated to India and claim to be refugees is not centrally maintained.
(d) & (e) : As per information available, 8037 Pakistani nationals who had come to India on
valid travel documents were found to be overstaying as on 31st December, 2011. Further number
of Pakistani nationals who has applied Indian citizenship and number of Pakistani nationals to
whom Indian Citizenship Certificate has been issued is as under:
Sl. No. Year INDIAN INDIAN CITIZENSHIP CITIZENSHIP CERTIFICATE ISSUED APPLICATION RECEIVED
1. 2003 1743 723
2 2004 1309 799
3. 2005 604 844
4. 2006 730 627
5. 2007 570 531
6. 2008 688 424
7 2009 662 310
8. 2010 346 147
9. 2011 282 307
10. 2012 222 334
(f) : Central Government is vested with powers to deport a foreign national under section 3(2)
(c) of the Foreigners Act, 1946. These powers to identify and deport illegally staying foreign
nationals have also been delegated to the State Governments/UT Administrations. Detection and
deportation of such illegal immigrants is a continuous process. Details of the number of
foreign nationals deported during 2009, 2010 and 2011 are given below:-
Year Number of foreign nationals deported during the year
2009 12147
2010 7248
2011 7840
A revised procedure for detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants was
communicated to the State Governments/UT Administrations in November, 2009, which was partially
modified in February, 2011. The procedure includes sending back then and there, the illegal
immigrants who are intercepted at the border while entering India unauthorisedly. As regards
Assam, the suspected foreigners are referred to Foreigners Tribunals for determination of
nationality. After the Foreigners Tribunal determines the nationality, appropriate action is
taken for the deportation of the foreigners who are illegally staying. 36 such Foreigners
Tribunals are now functioning in Assam.
