“I must be fifteen or sixteen,” says Anjali, trying to guess her age—as she glances at her friends, expecting an answer from them. Anjali is among the 400 Pakistani Hindus who have found refuge in a sparsely populated patch of Sector 11 of Rohini in Delhi. A number of other similar settlements sit secluded in Shahbad Dairy, Adarsh Nagar and Jahangirpuri, among other areas. While a few members in these places now possess citizenship, ration cards and Aadhar cards, some others await the benefits that come with the essential documents. Most kids are able to go to school solely on the grounds of a legitimate identity via Aadhar.
Brick houses—with tarpaulin roofs, and timber walls—stand adjacent to a cluttered road in Sector 11. “The clean-up units come once in two to five months,” Anarkali, who is Anjali’s aunt points out. She arrived in India around 12 years ago. Most inhabitants in the area are dwellers of the Sindh province in Pakistan.
“We faced a lot of discrimination there,” Anarkali says, recalling the struggle the community encountered as a minority back in Pakistan. The young girls accompanying her shared the anguish.
Now settled in their new surroundings, where only a bunch of people have ration cards, mobile and fruit vending is the major source of income for most men in the community. Women and young girls can be found absorbed in household chores or other activities like sewing and embroidery. “We worked hard and built these homes with our own pockets,” Anarkali points out. However, she remains grateful for the roof over her head, primarily credited to the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, according to her.
Born as Ramkali in Pakistan, she was later given the name Anarkali to avoid the prejudice that came with her original name. “We will vote for Modi,” she continues, as the locality holds a large chunk of Bharatiya Janata Party supporters.
Pakistani Hindus nested in the partially neglected area of Shahbad Dairy in Rohini are, however, facing challenges —living in impoverished conditions. “Only five among us have been granted citizenship,” Bhagwan Das, the community pradhaan remarks. Every pack residing in distinguished spots of the capital city has a pradhaan, appointed unofficially by the locality members to handle documents and oversee arrangements for them. This area, in particular, is home to around 125 people.
According to Bhagwan, a 5 to 7-feet-deep pit, dug by the locals, functions as their toilet. The houses, surrounded by piles of garbage, once shared a single electricity meter brought by Bhagwan Das. The meter is now disconnected due to unpayable bills, leaving the area without power. “We fetch water from the tanks of the neighbouring colony,” he points at the buildings located about 500 meters away.
With self-dug toilets and no entitlement to land, dwellers are struggling with job opportunities and other basic necessities. “I wish the government would lease us some land,” Bhagwan adds, “so we can support ourselves and meet basic needs.”
The pradhaans of the area reach out to local bodies, MLAs or the central government departments directly for paperwork-related matters. However, the community living in a segregated segment in Adarsh Nagar reports to the nearby police station as well.
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Waziro came to India from the Sanghar district of the Sindh Province in Pakistan. It’s been a month since he arrived in Adarsh Nagar with his family and a group of around 50 others. He is now awaiting official documentation that would allow him to move to his sister’s home in Gujarat. “They gave us a place to stay,” he refers to the people in the basti. Until he receives an official response from the authorities, he says, he cannot proceed with his plans to join his sister in Gujarat.
About 300 people inhabit this colony in Adarsh Nagar located near Majlis Park. A courtyard shelter consisting of two rooms, occupies one edge of the colony. Moolchand, a resident, looks over the kindergarten, where Pooja, a young woman seemingly in her 20s, is a mentor to girls and older kids in the locality. “Both unmarried and married girls come here for tuition,” she remarked.
In the courtyard shelter, the colony kids learn the Hindi alphabet to master the basics. They are then enrolled in nearby government schools. According to the dwellers, the Basti has visitors from members of Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). While some individuals from Rohini and Adarsh Nagar have managed to get voter IDs ahead of the Delhi assembly elections, for others, life after getting an identity remains an uphill battle.
