South Asia State of Minorities Report 2019 in Bangladesh, even after its birth as an independent state in 1971 and its adoption of a Constitution that had secularism as one of its core tenets, discrimination against religious minorities has persisted. In Afghanistan, external intervention in the form of the Soviet invasion triggered dynamics that complicated an already fraught nation-building process, destabilising the region and creating space for extremist ideologies to fill the void. Minorities, particularly religious, have since continued to be targeted by the Islamist Taliban and other forces. India, with its large Hindu and Sikh populations, reasonable scope for economic opportunity, and a largely stable polity, has been the first choice of destination for many Hindus and Sikhs who have sought to flee religious persecution in these countries. Of late, the Hindu majoritarian party in power, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sought to fashion India as the land for persecuted Hindus and related minorities from the Muslim-majority countries in the neighbourhood, accelerating the trend of migrations. Hindus have been fleeing to India from Pakistan since the two countries became independent in 1947, even after the initial Partition-induced mass migration. Earlier, clandestine migration through the then porous borders of the Indian states of Rajasthan and Gujarat was common, aided by the fact that people living in these areas often had kinship ties across the border. As religious persecution of minorities increased in Pakistan, so did the influx of Hindus into India. Recently, they have been arriving in small groups, carrying temporary pilgrimage visas whose extensions they repeatedly apply for in the hope that they would eventually be eligible for Indian citizenship. Around 5,000 Pakistani Hindus are estimated to arrive in India every year, settling in camps across the country, with major settlements in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Delhi.5 Persecuted Hindus from Bangladesh have also been seeking refuge in India for decades, aided previously by porous borders and more recently by using valid or even forged documents. Around 11.3 million Hindus are estimated to have left Bangladesh between 6 Irfan Haider, ‘5,000 Hindus Migrating to India Every Year, NA Told,’ Dawn, May 13, 2014, https://www.dawn.com/news/1105830. 40