Thread by @singhsahana

In camps housing Pakistani Hindus that I visited in Delhi & Jodhpur in 2019, mostly there were people on visas waiting for the day when they could become Indian citizens. But in Jaisalmer, I saw another side which made me rather despondent. (1)
medium.com/@sahana.singh/…

At Bhil Basti at Jaisalmer I came across some 1,000 Pakistani Hindu families living in pitiful conditions. A massive slum exists near a major international tourist destination like the Golden Fort of Jaisalmer & the inmates are all Pakistani Hindus! (2)

Many of the refugees became citizens in 2005 or later but still had not received any benefits in terms of water, electricity, education or employment. Their huts look so vulnerable and unprotected from the elements. (3)

Even though rural Rajasthan has achieved open-defecation free (ODF) status in 2018, and cities such as Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bikaner have become ODF, the people living in Bhil Basti in Jaisalmer have no option but open defecation. (4)

It broke me to learn that most of the men in Bhil Basti earned their living by breaking rocks manually. Pathhar todna (Breaking rocks) is an expression we casually use in Hindi as in sentences like “Itna bhi kya kaam hain, koi pathhar to nahin todna hain na? (5)

It can be translated to "Why are you complaining about work; you are not having to break rocks, are you?" The utter despair written on the faces of the men I met seemed so justified when seen in the context of sitting in the sun all day long breaking rocks till their arms hurt(6)