Outreach to Goan Pakistanis over CAA started: NRI Commissioner

Goa's NRI Commissionerate, a state government agency, which engages with the large expat Goan population, is in the process of reaching out to nearly 25,000 Pakistani citizens of Goan origin in order to quell their apprehensions related to the newly passed Citizenship Amendment Act, an official said on Monday.

Goa NRI Commissioner Narendra Sawaikar also told the reporters at a press conference in Panaji, that his office was collating contact details of Goan expat in Pakistan, as well as their social organisations involving Goan expat as part of the state government's massive outreach effort.

"There are Goans who have gone and settled there... We are trying to explain to them, through our website and others like e-mails. We are trying to be in touch with them," Sawaikar said.

Sawaikar, who is also the state Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary, was responding to questions from the media, efforts taken by the state government to put the anxieties of Goans residing in Pakistan at ease, following the violence which has erupted in several parts of the country in wake of implementation of CAA.

The CAA allows members of the Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh to enter India if faced with religious persecution.

An estimated 15,000 Pakistanis of Goan origin reside in Karachi, while 10,000 others reside in other parts of the country. When it was still under Portuguese colonial rule, witnessed an exodus of migration especially to British and Portuguese held Africa and British-held Burma, Pakistan and Mumbai, especially in services linked to railways and shipping.IANS