A group of Bangladesh-based minority refugees living in Uttar Pradesh who came to Lucknow on Tuesday to thank Union Home Minister Amit Shah for amending the citizenship law said they were overwhelmed by the decision.

Nirmal Biswas of Mohammadi, Ravindranagar, near Lakhimpur Kheri told HT that his family had come from East Pakistan, Bangladesh. “Back in 1964, I was only 8 years old. My father died during the stay, “recalled Nirmal who is now 65 years old.

“Those were terrible years. Back in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, we were injured and targeted by the majority. We saw our women being raped, our children killed. Many were forced to convert.

The BJP claims that the group included refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Under the Citizenship Amendment Act, they can qualify for Indian citizenship if they came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

The refugees said that initially, around 200 families came to India mainly from Khulna, Jessore and Faridpur areas of East Pakistan. Gradually, their numbers began to increase, as atrocities across the border increased. Anukul Chandra Das, who hails from Ramia Behar block of Lakhimpur Kheri, said that his parents came from Faridpur in East Pakistan.

“I was only 14 then. Initially, we kept in a camp in present-day Chhattisgarh and after spending three months in the transit camp, about 1700 families reached Udham Singh Nagar. Later, thousands of others came to settle in Lakhimpur Kheri in 1970.

Another refugee said, “In India, those who arrived after 1964 were not registered and so we lived on the streets without any facilities.” After citizenship law, we will be able to get facilities, respect, and recognition. “

UP Minister Shrikant Sharma recently said that the state government has identified 33000 refugees who had migrated from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and were living in UP. Sharma said, “These were initial numbers and will be updated clearly.”

District magistrates have been tasked to physically verify those migrating from those three countries and were living in UP.

Government officials said that the refugees would only have to fill a simple form before beginning their registration process.

At the rally, Shah said the CAA would not be withdrawn and called for a public debate on the law that has sparked protests in various parts of the country and forced the BJP to launch an awareness campaign.

Shah accused the opposition of campaigning against the citizenship law that citizenship increases rapidly for non-Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The opposition claims that the law is unconstitutional because it makes religion a test of citizenship