Rights of citizenship of certain migrants to Pakistan
- Source edition
- The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)
- Source locator
- Part II, Article 7
- Last human source-link check
- Not yet checked
- Last human legal review
- Not yet reviewed
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1. In One Sentence
Provided that persons who migrated from India to Pakistan after 1 March 1947 lost their Indian citizenship, unless they returned under a lawful permit for permanent resettlement.
2. What It Means in Everyday Language
Article 7 was a specific override rule enacted in response to Partition. It declared that anyone who left the territory of India for Pakistan after 1 March 1947 (when severe communal riots began prior to formal independence) could not be deemed an Indian citizen.
However, Article 7 included an important humanitarian and legal exception (the proviso): if a person who had migrated to Pakistan later returned to India under a lawful government permit for permanent resettlement, they were treated as having migrated after 19 July 1948 under Article 6 and could apply for citizenship after six months of residence.
Historical note: This provision addressed immediate property questions, refugee resettlement, and allegiance issues during 1947–1950. It does not apply to contemporary travel or migration.
3. Practical Illustrative Example
A resident of Uttar Pradesh migrated to Karachi in April 1947 during communal unrest, but subsequently applied for and received an official permit from the Indian government for permanent return to India in 1949.
4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions
A special transitional provision regulating the loss and conditional recovery of citizenship for Partition migrants.
- Overrides Articles 5 and 6: Commencing on 1 March 1947, migration to Pakistan extinguished deemed citizenship.
- Permit for resettlement exception: Allowed lawful returnees with government-issued permanent return permits to seek citizenship.
- Historical provision: Relevant strictly to the Partition period (1947–1950); modern citizenship issues are regulated by parliamentary acts.
5. Operative Constitutional Text
6. Sources & Historical Assembly Deliberations
Assembly quotations are withheld until wording, dates, and attribution have been checked against the primary record.
- •Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India (Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice) • Part II, Article 7 • Human source-link check pending
Official consolidated text of the Constitution published by the Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice.
- •Lok Sabha Secretariat (Parliament of India / Lok Sabha Secretariat) • Volume IX, 12 August 1949 • Human source-link check pending
Official verbatim record of Constituent Assembly proceedings published by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.