Twelve siblings belonging to four families taken to the Attari border in Punjab for deportation have been brought back here as the Pakistan authorities refused to take them on technical grounds. In the case of some deportees, the court had stayed the move.
In the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, the government had ordered the deportation of Pakistanis overstaying here.
Most of such people were from the border districts of Poonch, Rajouri, Kathua, and Jammu.
The deportation move has also triggered concerns among the locals in the border villages. Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in his Friday sermons in Srinagar’s Jama Masjid, urged the government not to separate the families and put the move on hold.
Nine people from the border district of Poonch, including eight siblings, have reportedly been sent back from the Attari border as Pakistan authorities refused to take them back.
A woman from Budhal in Rajouri, who delivered a baby about a fortnight ago, has also reportedly come back from Attari.
Eight siblings of J&K Police constable Iftikhar Ali, including five sisters and three brothers, who were living in the border area of Mendhar in Poonch district, were sent back from the Attari border. They returned to Poonch last night.
Iftikhar Ali, who is serving in the Railways Police at Katra, was not sent to Attari for deportation, but his five sisters and three brothers were taken to Attari for deportation to Pakistan, but all of them were sent back.
A Pakistani woman, Sara Khan, wife of Aurangzeb, married at Budhal in Rajouri district in 2017, has also been sent back from the Attari border.
Of the four Pakistani women sent from Jammu district to Attari, three crossed over to Pakistan, while Menal Khan, wife of a CRPF constable, has returned following court orders.
Similarly, two Pakistanis sent to Attari from Kathua also came back.
A 69-year-old Pakistani, who was to be sent back, died of cardiac arrest at Attari. Abdul Waheed was brought from Srinagar by the Jammu and Kashmir Police for his repatriation to Pakistan.
Meanwhile, in his Friday address, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said, “Another humanitarian issue coming up is the deportation of hundreds of people, which is leading to the division of families with mothers being separated from little children and husbands from wives. One such incident led to the tragic death of an 80-year-old and paralysed Abdul Waheed Bhat on a bus while being deported. In Kashmir, it’s sorrow after sorrow and grief after grief that comes to us. I appeal to the Government of India to revisit this policy. It is inimical to actual peace and stability in Jammu and Kashmir if that is what the Government of India wants for J&K. I also appeal to them that on humanitarian grounds, the family members of such should not be deported and their families made to suffer”.
“We pray that the situation between India and Pakistan, which is getting worse by the day, is resolved without going to war”, Mirwaiz added.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti in a recent post on X wrote, “The recent government directive to deport all Pakistani nationals from India has raised serious humanitarian concerns, particularly in Jammu & Kashmir. Many affected are women who came to India 30–40 years ago, married Indian citizens, raised families, and have long been part of our society. We urge the government to reconsider this decision and adopt a compassionate approach regarding women, children, and the elderly. Deporting individuals who have lived peacefully in India for decades would not only be inhumane but would inflict deep emotional and physical distress on families who now know no other home”.