BHOPAL: The fate of nine children born to Pakistani fathers and Indian mothers in Madhya Pradesh hangs in the balance after the Centre revoked 14 visa categories for Pakistani nationals.
The state government has sought central guidance on the children's status, as they currently reside with their mothers across three cities in the state.
The nine children, aged between one and 11 years, are currently living with their Indian mothers across Madhya Pradesh. Four children aged 4 to 7 are in Indore, three aged 1 to 11 are in Jabalpur, and two aged 5 and 6 are in Bhopal.
In Jabalpur, three kids, the eldest of them being an 11-year-old girl and the youngest being her one-year-old brother, had to come to India with their mother on short term visas last month, as their father was jobless in Pakistan for a long time, forcing mother to come to her parents’ place.
“In total there were 14 Pakistani nationals in MP, including the nine children with their Indian mothers in Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur. Also, a young man (who is from the Sindhi community) too was on short term visa in Bhopal and had applied for a long-term visa, just a few hours before the central government ordered the revocation of 14 categories of visas and asked those Pakistani nationals to leave India by April 27. We’ve sought the central government’s advice and guidance in all these cases of the 10 Pakistani nationals, including the nine kids,” a senior state police officer told TNIE on Tuesday.
Out of the 14 Pakistani nationals who had to leave the country by April 27, three have already left and crossed the international border into Pakistan.
In one case of a six-year-old kid who had come with their Indian mother to maternal grandparents' place in Indore, the Indian national mother has left with the Pakistani national kid and the matter of both going to Pakistan is reportedly being looked into by the Foreigners Registration Office in Delhi.
The 14 categories of visas were revoked by the central government on April 25 in the wake of the ghastly April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and those Pakistani nationals who were in India on such visas were asked to leave the country by April 27.
In a communication to all the state governments, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), however, had added that the order will not apply to Long Term Visa (LTV) holders, besides diplomatic and official visa holder Pakistani nationals.