History Faculty Publications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-2025

Publication Source

Critical Pakistan Studies

Abstract

As India and Pakistan emerged as two new nation-states after 1947, questions around nationality and citizenship animated official and public discourses. While there were constitutional and legal pronouncements to clarify these matters, this article suggests that particular documents governing mobility became central to how such issues were framed and understood. In particular, this article focuses on the Indian passport and similar documents of mobility control, such as the domicile certificate, permits, and so on, to examine how they worked singly and in conjunction to frame the documentary life of belonging. The article also focuses on particular mobile groups, Muslim minorities and women married to non-Indians, to understand how these documents became central to their claims of citizenship and belonging.

ISBN/ISSN

2753-2712

Document Version

Published Version

Comments

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license, which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/cps.2025.10006

Publisher

Cambridge University Press in association with the American Institute of Pakistan Studies

Peer Reviewed

yes

Keywords

citizenship, migration certificates, passport permits, women

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