In fact, everyone in Sadla village seems to know of these “Pakistanis’’ — the six Hindu families of Koli community who came here in 1995 — but have not yet attained Indian citizenship.

“Ame gareeb chheeye. Amare koi mota kaam karva nagrik nathi banvun. Pan jo nagrik hasu to amne ration card malse. Ane jo e card hase to sasta ma anaj-khand malse. (We are very poor and do not want the citizenship to do something big. We just want to be citizens so that we can have ration card and get grains and sugar at cheaper rates),” said Vershi Jamal, one of them.

Facing harassment on the other side of the border, both by neighbours and authorities, these families crossed over to India in 1995.

“It all began years ago (before Partition) when my father had moved from Rapar in Gujarat to Badin district of Pakistan in search of employment and then made it their home. I was just 15 days old then,” said Vershi Jemal, now in his mid fifties, leading the lot of 24 people.

Vershi and 23 other have been living in small grass-huts on rocky wasteland of Sadla village on the side of the road and have been earning their livelihood as farm labourers. “After Partition, my father decided to move to India. But, while making a move towards India, one of his group members was attacked, so they had to stay back for some time. In the meantime, crossing the border was declared illegal and our families had to settle in the Badin district,” said Vershi.

They say they were subjected to humiliation by the residents and authorities in Pakistan. And it became unbearable when the “humiliation passed on to their female members”. “Females in the families had to face a lot of problems and so we had to move to India,” says Vershi.

Vershi’s and five other families started their migration from Pakistan to the Indian border and then surrendered before the Border Security Force (BSF) in Bhuj, which handed them over to the Joint Interrogation Center. During migration, Vershi lost one of his daughters due to want of drinking water.

“We told them that either keep us in India or kill us,” said Raniben, Vershi’s wife. The rest of the family members chose to remain silent.

Meanwhile, news of the detention of the six families spread and a group of Koli community, Shree Anjar Shaher Koli (Adivasi) Samaj Seva Sangh, took up their issue as all the refugees belonged to the Koli community. “Initially, they were kept under ‘house arrest’ and later allowed to live in an area after a landlord showed readiness to hire them as labourers in his farm,” said the president of the Koli group, Bachubhai Surani.

“However, later the police department ordered that these families cannot live in the border districts. So, we decided to shift them to Sadla village of Surendranagar district where the Koli community is in large numbers,” he said.

Surani said the traditional family records of the community in the district very clearly show that all the refugees had roots in the district before Partition. And this is reflected in the fact that Vershi and others have married off their sons and daughters to local the Koli community members. Now, Surani and other leaders of the Koli group are helping the refugees to get Indian citizenship. And the correspondence in this regard is on with the Union Home Ministry.

Surendranagar Superintendent of Police Ashok Kumar Yadav said: “These families are living in the district under Long Term Visa (LTV), which is valid till March 31, 2010. And so far, their behaviour is not objectionable... These families have also applied for Indian citizenship.”