Deportation of Pakistanis following Pahalgam attack reveals that many of them were living in India for decades, Mehbooba Mufti urges govt to reconsider the decision
After the Indian government revoked visas issued to Pakistani nationals and ordered Pakistanis living in the country to leave, a shocking reality has come to light – a huge number of Pakistanis who came on valid visas decades ago are still living in India. In fact, former Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti herself admitted that thousands of Pakistanis have been living in the country for 30-40 years, and opposed the centre’s decision to deport them.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti tweeted yesterday, urging the government to reconsider the decision and “adopt a compassionate approach”. She said, “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.”
She further added, “We urge the government to reconsider this decision, and adopt a compassionate approach regarding, women, children and 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.”
Notably, it has come to light that Pakistanis who entered Jammu and Kashmir legally were granted long term stay permits when Jammu and Kashmir was a state before abolition of Article 370. One such Pakistan youth named Osama has admitted that he has been staying in India for 17 years, after he was granted request to stay in Jammu in Kashmir just 15 days after he arrived on a Pakistani visa. Osama also says he has Indian Voter card, Aadhaar card, Ration card, and has voted in elections, have studied in India, and he has no future if he forced to return to Pakistan.
He said, “I have a Pakistani passport. I am a citizen of Pakistan. I came to India legally by applying for a visa. I have been here since 2008. After 15 days of coming here, I had applied to stay, and I got the permission because Jammu and Kashmir had statehood status at that time. I know families who have been staying here for 20, even 30 years. We have voted in elections.”
Not just students, Pakistanis living in Kashmir have also revealed that they are working as govt employees, including as cops. A video has gone viral on social media where a Pakistani woman living in Kashmir says that her husband is in Jammu and Kashmir Police, and his name has been listed in the deportation list.
The woman added only her husband Iftikar Ali has been asked to leave, but no deportation order has been issued for her and their kids. She said that her husband joined the state police 26 years ago. The family said that they came to India after the 1965 war and have been living here.
Similarly, another Pakistani woman said that she came from Karachi 41 years ago and has been living in India since then. She said that she has been forced to leave her children back in India, and she has no family, no house left in Pakistan.
Another woman Parween Akhtar returned to Pakistan via Attari border after living in India for 40 years. She is married to an Indian man and they have three children. Notably, Parween Akhtar’s husband Ghulam Masood said that like him, his son also married a Pakistani woman. He said that both of them entered India on valid visas, and they are from Muzaffarabad in PoK.
One Pakistani woman, mother of a Shaurya Chakra awardee, is not being deported. Earlier reports claimed that Shameema Akhtar, mother of slain Constable Mudasir Shaikh, was among the Pak nationals being deported. But later the administration clarified that she had not been asked to leave India.
Constable Mudasir Shaikh was part of the team of undercover operatives of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, and was killed in May 2022 while confronting terrorists. Mudasir was posthumously honoured with the Shaurya Chakra by the president of India. Mudasir’s uncle said that their family is from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and only Pakistanis should be deported.
As per reports, some of the Pakistani’s living in India for years are wives and children of former terrorists who returned to the valley under a 2010 rehabilitation policy for former ultras. Around 60 such women and children were deported to Pakistan through the Wagah border yesterday.
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