CHANDIGARH: A group of women of Indian nationality but married to Pakistani nationals are facing a heart-wrenching ordeal after the Centre ordered all Pakistani nationals to leave the country within 48 hours in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.
Holding Indian passports, these women now find themselves stranded at the Attari border, as the immigration authorities are reportedly refusing to let them leave the country.
To make matters worse, their minor children, who hold Pakistani passports, are being allowed to cross over. However, the women say that they will go back to their homes in the neighbouring country only with their children.
An Indian passport holder, Sadvi Alvi, married in Pakistan, reached the Attari border with her son as she had to leave. However, she was stopped.
"My five-year-old son is a Pakistani national. He has to go back as the Indian government has ordered all Pakistanis to leave the country in 48 hours, but he cannot travel alone. Nobody is there to take care of my child in Pakistan as my mother-in-law is bedridden. My visa was still valid for more than two months, Please help me.’’
Another Indian citizen, Majida Khan, who was married ten years ago in Pakistan, had come to India in February with her two children, who were born in India but possess Pakistani passports.
"I came here in February to visit my family, and now, due to this development, we have to leave within 48 hours as per orders by the Indian government. I have an Indian passport, but my children have Pakistani passports. I cannot send my children alone, the officials are saying only those with green passports (Pakistani passports) can cross over).’’
Another woman, Rabia, who hails from Punjab's Malerkotla, said she came to India two months ago to meet her parents. She got married in Pakistan three years ago.
Another woman, Afshin Jahangir, who hails from Jodhpur and has an Indian passport, said she had come to India to meet her parents, and she should be allowed to go back to Pakistan.
"I will consume poison here. We are being stopped. I have to cross the border on April 25 at any cost or else I will stage a protest here," she said.
Another lady who reached the Attari border belongs to Barmer in Rajasthan and possesses Indian citizenship. She was married to a Pakistani national in 2018.
She said, "I was married across the border and my child was born in 2020 in Pakistan, and he is a Pakistani passport holder, my child cannot go alone to the neighbouring country and as mother, I have to go along, but the official here have refused that I can cross over. I want to request the government to allow me to cross over.’’
"I came to India after seven years to visit my parents with both my children. But upon reaching the ICP, I have been told that my children can cross over as they have Pakistani passports, but I cannot do so as I have a Indian passport. How can children go back home without a mother,’’ said another lady.
There were several such women who gave up their Indian citizenship after being married in Pakistan and residing there for decades and also maintaining ties with their families back in India.
They reached the Attari-Wagah border to cross into the neighbouring country. But they were stopped by the immigration officials and are now stuck in limbo.
In another such case, a man reached the Attari to drop off his sister, he said that his sister was married four years ago in Pakistan and has a two-and-a-half-year-old child.
She has an Indian passport with a re-entry stamp, but she was not allowed to go back.
Another woman said that she has been married in Pakistan and residing there for twenty years. She had come to see her ailing mother and had an Indian passport. However, she has not been allowed to go back to her children and family back in the neighbouring country.
"I applied for a Pakistani passport but has not got it yet,’’ she said.