00:00My friends talk to me in a tone of voice,
00:04saying that I am a Pakistani.
00:06I don't take it personally.
00:14I had a financial problem in the past,
00:16so I settled there for a while.
00:20This is 26-year-old Mafida.
00:23She was born in Kerala, but is not an Indian citizen.
00:26Decades ago, her father left for Pakistan
00:28in search for work and took her along.
00:30They never imagined they would get stuck.
00:32I have a daughter.
00:36My father took her away
00:38when she couldn't stay here
00:40because of financial problems.
00:42My mother and father
00:44went to India.
00:46We used to go to the Indian hospital
00:48once a year.
00:50I don't know if it was in 1995 or 1998,
00:52but that was the last time
00:54I went to India.
00:56I stayed there for 10-12 years.
01:00I got my passport there.
01:02I still have my passport there.
01:04I have a copy of the passport
01:06that I lost there.
01:08I have it in my email.
01:10I was born and raised in Kerala.
01:12I have it in my email.
01:22Now, Mafida's biggest concern
01:24is her younger brother.
01:26He has no passport, no nationality
01:28and no future.
01:30I don't know what will happen
01:32in the future.
01:34I don't know if I will be able
01:36to go abroad.
01:38I have a good chance
01:40of going abroad.
01:42But I don't have a passport.
01:5024-year-old Mohammad Ismail
01:52is an MBA, hoping to build a career.
01:54But his degree is now just
01:56a piece of paper.
02:08His mother, Rashida Banu,
02:10fought a 16-year-long legal battle
02:12to gain Indian citizenship.
02:14She won, but only for herself
02:16and one daughter.
02:18The rest of her children remain stateless.
02:22I was born in August 2008.
02:24It's been 17 years now.
02:30We all came together.
02:34My mother didn't feel safe there.
02:36She didn't like the culture there.
02:38We are basically Malayalis.
02:40We are not pure Pakistanis.
02:42My mother struggled a lot.
02:44She studied in a town called Kathirur.
02:46She studied first and second
02:48in an English medium school.
02:50Later on,
02:52she studied in Kundoor Mala
02:54from 7th to CBC.
02:56Then she moved to a government school.
02:58She got an Aadhar card.
03:00Because of the Aadhar card,
03:02we were able to get
03:04a lot of things.
03:06We were able to get an admission.
03:08I studied in Kathirur
03:10from 8th to 12th.
03:12After that, I completed my degree
03:14from here.
03:16I am a BBA.
03:18I studied in a private college
03:20in Pondicherry University.
03:22It's called Mahi Cooperative College.
03:24I studied there regularly.
03:28I don't have a passport.
03:30I can't even go to Bangalore
03:32or Mysore for an internship.
03:4052-year-old Shahid,
03:42born in Karachi,
03:44returned to Kerala in 2011,
03:46hoping for a better future.
03:48But a decade later,
03:50he still carries a Pakistani passport.
03:52My father died in a car accident.
03:54He died at a young age.
03:56My mother
03:58was around
04:0010-30 years old.
04:02I don't know exactly.
04:04My father got married
04:06in Aadhar.
04:08We got married in Aadhar.
04:10My mother and father
04:12died in Aadhar.
04:14I have a brother-in-law
04:16from Saudi Arabia.
04:18We are a family.
04:20Aadhar is not like that.
04:22It wasn't like that in the past.
04:24It was very strict.
04:26We didn't go beyond
04:283-4 months.
04:30We filed a case
04:32directly at the SP office.
04:34It's been 4 months
04:36since we got our passports.
04:38In August.
04:40We went to Delhi and
04:42filed a case.
04:44We didn't give a 2-year stay.
04:46We had a paper.
04:48We had to go to Delhi and
04:50get a reply.
04:52We didn't get a reply.
04:54We had a paper
04:56for a long-term visa.
04:58We didn't get a reply.
05:00We had to apply for
05:02nationality
05:04only after we got our passport
05:06and INU valid.
05:08For many,
05:10nationality means no access to opportunities,
05:12no property, no travel,
05:14no certainty.
05:16Do you own a house?
05:18No, it's a rental.
05:20We have a lot of problems
05:22with our in-laws.
05:24We don't have
05:26a lot of money.
05:28It's very clear.
05:30Even marriage is a struggle.
05:32Even when I think about it,
05:34I don't know if I can
05:36bring her to the Gulf.
05:38Despite the struggles,
05:40they find no hostility from locals.
06:08The process is painfully slow,
06:10wrapped in red tape.
06:12It took us a month
06:14to find out about this.
06:16We went to the SP office
06:18and they told us
06:20that we can do something
06:22if they send someone.
06:24We had a lot of problems.
06:26Everyone knows about it,
06:28but not us.
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