"Without citizenship and employment, how will I feed my family? I'm a qualified doctor. I can't keep borrowing money from people. I'm just stuck in a loop that I can't get out of."
Nanikraz Khanoomal Mukhi, an MBBS doctor from Pakistan's Hyderabad, is the sole breadwinner for his family of four – his wife and three children.
The 50-year-old came to India in 2009 and has been living in Ahmedabad's Sardar Nagar area since then. However, his life has turned upside down as he's been stateless for the last four years and unemployed for the last nine months. The reason, he says, is a lapse on the part of the District Collector's office.
Mukhi is now banking on the Indian legal system, having knocked on the door of the Gujarat High Court to obtain Indian citizenship so that he can continue to provide for his family and live in a country he calls his own.
'Left Pakistan for a Better Future for My Daughter'
Mukhi, a Hindu from Pakistan, says that he decided to leave his country for the betterment of his three children.
"For my children's future and their education, I decided to move to India," he says while speaking to The Quint. The family came to Ahmedabad, where some of their relatives reside, in 2009 on a tourist visa, which was later converted to an LTV (Long Term Visa) and had to be renewed every two years.
For a while everything was going well. Mukhi opened a sonography clinic in Ahmedabad and his children enrolled in reputed educational institutions, wanting to follow in their father's footsteps and become doctors themselves. Mukhi says he never faced any harassment in India on account of his Pakistani nationality.
In 2017, he decided to put in his application to become a formalised Indian citizen.
Mukhi's wife, who applied under The Citizenship Act, 1955, got her citizenship in 2020. His children applied in 2019 under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and were made Indian nationals in 2024.
But Mukhi is still left in the lurch.
'Was Assured of Citizenship By Authorities, But...'
In 2021, Mukhi formally renounced his Pakistani passport and nationality – a prerequisite to claim Indian citizenship.
"I went to Delhi to renounce my Pakistani citizenship and then submitted the renouncement letter to the Collector's office in Ahmedabad. They assured me that I would get my citizenship within 15 days," he says.
Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, but Mukhi says he didn't hear back from the authorities.
When he went to inquire about the status of his application a few months later, he was told by government clerks that their office had "missed" the IB (Intelligence Bureau) inquiry.
As citizenship is a subject which falls under the Union List, all such cases are managed through the IB, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Union Home Ministry.
"I couldn't understand what they were saying because nobody can be assured of Indian nationality without the IB inquiry. So if the inquiry wasn't done beforehand, how could the Collector's office assure me that I would get citizenship within 15 days?" he asks.
That was four years ago. Repeated visits to the Collector's office yielded nothing as officials kept giving him the tired old responses.
"They asked me to wait until they figure out what has happened. How much should I wait? It's been four years. I'm without a passport and ID. When my daughter enrolls for higher education, she will need to write the nationality of her father. So which nationality should she write?"Nanikraz Khanoomal Mukhi
The Quint reached out to BR Sagar, Residential Additional Collector at the Ahmedabad District Collectorate, but he refused to divulge any information about the case.
'Clinic Sealed. How Will I Feed My Family?'
To compound Mukhi's problems, he has also been without work since October 2024.
Mukhi had been operating his sonography clinic with permission from the Medical Council of India. In 2023, he also cleared the National Medical Commission of India (NMC) exam. However, little did he know that his quest for a higher qualification would backfire.
After clearing the NMC exam, he was asked for his registration letter with the Gujarat Medical Council. He informed them that since he does not possess Indian citizenship, he hasn't been able to register with the council yet.
"Upon coming to know this, the local authorities sealed my clinic. It's been nine months now that I've been without work. If I had a passport, at least I could have gone abroad to find some work, but I don't even have that," he says.
Without a nationality or a job, Mukhi says that a favourable judicial verdict is his last hope.
"I'm helpless. I have been borrowing money from my brothers, but it can't go on like this. I'm a qualified doctor. If I don't find employment, how will it work? How will my family eat? We are just stuck in a loop."Nanikraz Khanoomal Mukhi
This case also comes in the backdrop of the recent conflict between India and Pakistan following the dastardly terror attack in Pahalgam in April which led to the deaths of 26 civilians. Following the attack, the Indian government had issued directives asking Pakistani nationals in the country to leave within 48 hours or be deported.
When asked whether Operation Sindoor and the events that followed had anything to do with the delay in him getting Indian citizenship, Mukhi said: "The government supports Hindu migrants. I don't believe the recent India-Pakistan conflict has anything to do with my case. My entire family is in India. They had asked Pakistani nationals to leave, but I am not a Pakistani citizen anymore."
To the Gujarat High Court, Mukhi has also submitted that several of his siblings who came to India from Pakistan have been granted Indian citizenship. For instance, his brother Mangumal Ladhani came to India in 1990 and became a citizen. Two other brothers and a sister who came to India in 2009 had also become naturalised.
While speaking to The Quint, Mukhi's lawyer Ratna Vora said that if the court does not give them justice, they will move the Supreme Court of India.
"The Indian government has no reason or excuse to deny Mr Mukhi Indian citizenship. He has satisfied all the formalities to claim Indian nationality, including surrendering his Pakistani passport. And all his family members are Indians," she said.
The next hearing of the case has been scheduled for 6 August.
(The Quint has reached out to the Citizenship Division of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Medical Commission of India. This article will be updated as and when they respond.)