Pak national-turned-cop stopped from deportation, 8 siblings taken to Attari

Pak woman who served in SWD sent to Amritsar
*Jammu’s 3 women cross over, CRPF jawan’s wife returns

Sanjeev Pargal

JAMMU, Apr 30: A Pakistani national whose eight siblings (five sisters and three brothers) were sent to Attari from Mendhar in Poonch district for deportation to Pakistan, has turned out to be a police constable while one of the two sisters who were sent from Rajouri had served the Social Welfare Department (SWD) as Supervisor.

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A child Nomaan, born in Pakistan, is the only one from 11 persons sent from Poonch to Attari, who has been allowed by Pakistan to return to their country while rest are held up at the border. Similarly, out of eight persons sent from Rajouri district to Attari, four have crossed over to Pakistan while rest haven’t been taken back so far. Of four women sent to Attari from Jammu district yesterday, Menal Khan wife of CRPF constable Munir Ahmed of Rabta was sent back to Jammu because of the court order while three other women crossed over to Pakistan as they were taken back by the authorities.
Two Pakistanis from Kathua who were sent to Attari border yesterday for deportation to Pakistan return today to Kathua as Pak authorities refused to take them.
Officials told the Excelsior that Iftikhar Ali, a police constable posted in GRP Katra was born in Pakistan along with five sisters and three brothers though his parents belonged to village Salwa in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district. His parents shifted to Pakistan in 1965 and all their children were born in Pakistan. Click here to watch video
However, they returned to Salwa in 1983 on passport along with their nine children and started living there finding living conditions better than Pakistan. Presently, they owned 175 kanals of land in Salwa, Mendhar.
Subsequently, Iftikhar Ali was recruited in police department as a constable. He was dismissed from the services following complaint that he was a Pakistani national but the High Court stayed his dismissal and he was reinstated but not promoted and continues to serve as constable in over 25 years of services. Presently, he is posted in GRP Katra.
Sources said Iftikhar Ali hasn’t been sent to Attari but his eight siblings are held up there since last night and haven’t been taken back by Pakistan so far, as per the reports received here by the authorities.
A child Nomaan son of Amzad Sayeed of Gujranwala, Pakistan, who was sent from Mendhar, has been allowed to enter Pakistan. Rest are held up at Attari, they said.
Ali and his siblings have together 22 children, who were not deported as they were born in Mendhar.
Among eight Pakistanis sent from Rajouri to Attari border for deportation to Pakistan, two were sisters and one of them had served as Supervisor in the Social Welfare Department.
Saghir Fatima, 65, and Zameer Fatima, 63, both sisters putting up at Shahdara Sharief in Rajouri after migration from Pakistan, about 43 years back, were among eight persons sent from the district to Attari. Saghir was an employee of Social Welfare Department and retired as the Supervisor while Sameer worked in a private school as a teacher.
Both were grandmothers now.
Emotional scenes were witnessed in Mendhar, when eight siblings with their spouses and children making passionate appeals to the Government to stop their deportation.
“We have no relatives in Pakistan. Where will they stay there?” Mohammad Farooq, one of the family member asked.
Police constable Iftikhar Ali’s wife said her husband was born in Mendhar and it is grave injustice to him and his children if their father is deported to a country that he does not belong to.
“What will my children do without their father?” she asked, adding, “We regret the loss of innocent lives in terror attacks but do not take revenge on us as we have done no wrong. In fact, my husband is part of the police force that is fighting against terrorism.”
Similar heart-wrenching scenes unfolded in Rajouri when Zameer Fatima and Sageer Fatima were taken to Punjab for deportation.
The sisters, who were hardly able to walk on their own, have been living with their families in the Shahdara Sharief area for 43 years. They raised their families after getting married to two cousin brothers.
“This is nothing short of mourning in our family. They are frail and afflicted with various ailments and who is there to take care of them?” Fareed Hussain asked, requesting the Government with “folded hands” to spare them from deportation.
Sageer Fatima said, “I returned to Rajouri in 1983 along with my mother and sister. My mother died here. My children and grandchildren are all here and it is grave injustice to separate me from them”.

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