Felt like doomsday: Mom who feared deportation sans newborn

For Sara Khan, a Pakistani national and mother of two kids holding different nationalities, the prospect of deportation to her country felt like her heart was being torn apart. Just two weeks after delivering her second child, she was informed by authorities that she must return to Pakistan — without her newborn.

The situation was especially distressing for Sara as her first child, a Pakistani national, was permitted to accompany her.

“It felt like doomsday when I was told that my newborn couldn’t come with me to Pakistan. My five-year-old child would have accompanied me had I been allowed to cross the border from Amritsar recently,” Sara said. She married Aurangzeb Khan from the Budhal area of Rajouri district in Jammu in 2018. Since then, she has only once visited her hometown in Mirpur area of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) where her first child was born. Aurangzeb runs a small grocery shop in Rajouri.

Like many cross-border marriages rooted in family ties, Sara’s story reflects a shared history across divided lands. On April 29, local authorities informed her that she would be taken to Amritsar the following day for deportation. “I had just undergone a caesarean section and still had stitches. I pleaded for time to recover. But the harshest blow was being told that my newborn couldn’t come with me because he is an Indian national,” she recalled.

“The journey from Rajouri to Amritsar felt endless. I kept thinking that if relations between the two countries don’t improve, I might not see the face of one of my children for a long time,” she said.

However, when Pakistani authorities denied entry to their own nationals, Sara and several others were sent back. Her family had already travelled to Amritsar to bid her farewell. “I finally breathed a sigh of relief when I learned I wouldn’t have to leave India,” she said. Sara holds a long-term visa (LTV) and is now appealing to the Indian government for citizenship. “I belong to this country now. My parents were from Rajouri and migrated to Pakistan in 1965.”

J & K