First Pakistani Christian in Goa Granted Citizenship Under CAA

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant awarded the first Indian citizenship certificate under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to 78-year-old Pakistani Christian Joseph Francis Pereira. Pereira, a former Karachi resident, navigated numerous bureaucratic obstacles before obtaining Indian citizenship. The CAA helps persecuted non-Muslim migrants gain nationality in India.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant awarded the first Indian citizenship certificate under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to 78-year-old Pakistani Christian Joseph Francis Pereira. This momentous event marks the first such instance in Goa.

Pereira, who initially went to Pakistan for studies and later secured employment there, obtained Pakistani citizenship but returned to India in 2013. Married to a Goan woman, he faced significant challenges in securing Indian citizenship until the central government amended the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The amended CAA, effective from December 2019, aims to grant Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014. This includes Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians. The Goa Home Department is actively surveying similar cases to facilitate the award of citizenship certificates to eligible individuals.

(With inputs from agencies.)