While the Pakistani government has discriminatory policies for the minority community members, they are also victims of rising fundamentalism in Pakistan,' Ranaram told IANS.

Ranaram, a farm labourer, who used to live in a village in the Pakistani part of Punjab, said he was held hostage by fundamentalists, was tortured and was forced to convert to Islam.

'Me and my family were tortured by a fundamentalist group which forced us to convert to Islam. My wife and children were kidnapped when I complained about it. I was told that I would only get back my son and daughter and I should forget about my wife as she is a Muslim now. That day, I decided to come to India and now I am here,' Ranaram said. He came here over eight months ago.

'I am not alone. There are thousands of others who are facing this torture and harassment. But they have nowhere to go. We had no option but to come here,' Ranaram said.

With tears in his eyes, another farmer said: 'Our children are forced to perform Namaz and they call us Kafirs. The life for Hindus is very difficult there.' He was too scared to reveal his identity.

According to him, such incidents have increased after the ouster of Gen.Pervez Musharraf from the post of Pakistan's president in 2008.

Sodha criticised New Delhi for rarely taking up the issue with Islamabad. 'At the same time, it is getting more difficult for these people to get Indian citizenship,' he held.

'The minimum period of stay in India to apply for citizenship has been increased from five years to seven years and the fees have been hiked steeply.'

'Most of these people are agricultural labourers and from 2005 onwards the government has raised the prescribed citizenship fee structure from Rs.100-500 to Rs.3,000-20,000. It has just become impossible for this deprived group,' Sodha said, adding that the process of acquiring Indian citizenship is also very complicated.

(Anil Sharma can be contacted at anil.s@ians.in)