Mumbai, April 28: The Shiv Sena(UBT) in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ editorial on Monday took a swipe at the Centre over the presence of a large number of Pakistanis in the country, alleging that the number of Pakistani and Bangladeshi citizens has increased in the country during the tenure of BJP.

“Does the government have an answer to this? The Central government did launch a campaign to send back Pakistani citizens to their country, but where the BJP has been in power for years, most Pakistanis are found. So these people have definitely been sleeping for so many years. Again, where the BJP is not in power or is, campaigns are being started to harass Muslim students, fruit sellers, vegetable and cloth vendors, and small and big businessmen by declaring them as Pakistani citizens. Due to this, the original Pakistani citizens and infiltrators were left aside; a separate agenda is being implemented,” Saamana editorial said.

“How did these infiltrators make inroads when the security forces are guarding the border? The Prime Minister of the country calls himself the people’s watchman; but if Pakistani citizens, infiltrators and terrorists are crossing the border by breaking the barriers at the border and entering India, living comfortably in any state of the country and disappearing after committing attacks and massacres like Pahalgam, what exactly is the government, the country’s home department and intelligence agencies doing?” asked the Shiv Sena(UBT) in the editorial.

The editorial said that the number of Pakistani and Bangladeshi citizens in the country has increased during the BJP’s tenure. “However, after the Pahalgam attack, the Central government has started a campaign to send Pakistani citizens to Pakistan. After Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself gave such instructions to the Chief Ministers of all the states of the country, the states have swung into action. When this deadline expired on Sunday evening, a number of Pakistani citizens were deported to their country through the Attari border until the last moment. However, information is coming to light that thousands of Pakistani citizens are camped in the country even after the deadline expired. It is right that Pakistani citizens were deported out of the country, but why was there a need to wait for an attack like Pahalgam for this?” asked the Uddhav Thackeray camp in the editorial.

“Basically, why should thousands of Pakistanis come and live in India, and why should our country also allow them to come? We consider Pakistan an enemy country, so why were such a large number of Pakistani citizens allowed to enter every state of the country legally and illegally? Well, how many of these Pakistani citizens have visas and other valid documents and how many people have illegally infiltrated and are living in India? This is also a subject of research. Among the thousands of Pakistanis living in India, how many Hindus and how many Muslims are from Sindh province should also be carefully verified,” said the editorial.

The editorial further said that there were 5,023 Pakistani citizens living in 48 cities in Maharashtra. More than half of them, 2458 Pakistanis, were found in Nagpur city alone, which is the city where the state’s Chief Minister and the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are located. Therefore, if there are 2,500 Pakistanis living in Nagpur and the police administration does not have any information about them, then it must be said that the security of Maharashtra as well as the country is at risk.

“More than a thousand Pakistani citizens lived in the Deputy Chief Minister’s city of Thane, and 33 of them are missing. Pakistani citizens have spread their presence in a total of 48 cities of the state, and they are living here after their visas have expired or without valid documents. Isn’t this dangerous for the security of the country? If more than 5,030 in Maharashtra, 30,000 in Rajasthan, 2,000 in Chhattisgarh, 228 in Madhya Pradesh and 5,000 in Delhi, the capital of the country itself, are living unhindered, then it is a big game with the security of the country. Basically, how can thousands of people from an enemy country like Pakistan illegally go to every corner of India? Where did they come from? How did the government remember these thousands of Pakistani citizens living in India only after the Pahalgam attack? Does the government have an answer to this?” asked the Shiv Sena(UBT) in the editorial.

“There is no way to know how many of these Pakistanis returned by the end of the April 27 deadline and how many are still in the country. If we take the example of Maharashtra alone, there were as many as 5,023 Pakistanis living in our state. Although many of them have now been deported to Pakistan, reports have been published that 107 Pakistani citizens living in Maharashtra are missing. The state’s Minister of State for Home, Yogesh Kadam, himself said that the police searched for these 107 Pakistani citizens a lot, but they were not found, so we have to believe him. However, his statement has been contradicted by the Chief Minister, who is in charge of the Home Department. The CM has claimed that not a single Pakistani is missing. However, the Minister of State for Home and the Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde are claiming that 107 Pakistanis are missing, while CM Fadnavis is insisting that there is no such thing. If there is no consensus within the government on such a sensitive matter, how can it work?” asked the Shiv Sena UBT in the editorial.

“If the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and ministers are giving such contradictory information, who should the public trust? questioned the editorial.