NEW DELHI, March 3: A special drive launched in Rajasthan and Gujarat to grant citizenship to Pakistan's Hindu nationals has ended with India granting citizenship to over 8,000 Pakistani nationals, the Asian Age reported on Thursday.

Both the states are ruled by the rightwing Hindu revivalist Bharatiya Janata Party. The Age said in the report from Jaipur, the state capital of Rajasthan that the government there had approached the federal administration to extend the time limit further so that more people could avail the opportunity.

The drive that commenced on January 4, 2005 ended on February 28. During this period, the administration organized special camps in districts with a number of Pakistani citizens.

In Gujarat, only 1,500 acquired Indian citizenship, the Age said. It quoted Hindu Sindh Sodha, president of the former Hindu residents of Pakistan - the Pak Visthapit Sangh - as saying although the BJP government of Gujarat always encouraged the cause of Hindutva, it had attended poorly to the Hindus.

According to the Sangh, the Hindus who came to India on valid travel papers from Pakistan had refused to go back saying they were subjected to ill-treatment on religious grounds. "These displaced people have to renew their visa every five years and had been paying a certain fee to Pakistan, "said Mr Sodha.

Those who benefited by the move included those who had come to India in 1980. An exodus began in 1990, when hundreds of Pakistani Hindus migrated to Rajasthan on valid passports after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992, the Age said.

The Gujarat government did not show much interest, Mr Sodha charged. Most of them were poor and belonged to the lower strata of Hindu society. "These are the tribals or dalits, that's why their voice has gone unheard," he said.

"There are good number of secular people in Pakistan, who are always ready to help minority Hindus, but most of the times, hard liners overpower them," said Mr Sodha, who himself migrated to India in 1971.