Mumbai: Even though Id is nearly two weeks’ away, the Karadia household at Jogeshwari has already started celebrating the last step for citizenship. Their son’s “oath of allegiance” has been completed and it now remains for the central and state governments to issue a citizenship certificate to him. According to Abbas Karadia, the patriarch of the household, it has been a huge relief vis-a-vis the day the police knocked on their door and asked his son, Asif, to pack his bags and return to Pakistan as he was born there.
According to Abbas Karadia, his son got a call from the collector’s office, asking him to be present for the oath along with two non-related guarantors on May 31.
“My son was administered the oath by the officials as per the procedure and he renounced all connections with the place and country he was born in 1967. This is the last formality for acquiring citizenship from our end,” he said.
Asif was born in Karachi where his mother had gone for her first delivery. On the mother-son’s return to Mumbai, Asif’s name was added to his mother’s passport.
However, after the mother got Indian citizenship, Abbas Karadia thought that his son, too, had Indian citizenship, which is why he did not bother to check. But in the early 2000’s, Asif, who was by then married with kids, was told he could not get an Indian passport as he was born in Pakistan. When the government refused to extend Asif’s long-term resident permits, the Karadias approached the Bombay high court.
What started with the HC directing the central and state government to consider Asif Karadia’s case, ended with his oath of allegiance.
Senior advocate Sujay Kantawala who represented the Karadias in the HC said, “I am personally very grateful to our judges for understanding the plight and helplessness of the Karadia family. This is a classic example of complete justice due to judicial intervention. I have always maintained that our vibrant judiciary is the only hope for the people of India.”
Abbas Karadia said that the family was relieved that Asif would not be evicted from India.
