‘Forced to part’: Meerut woman sends back kids to father in Pakistan

An Uttar Pradesh woman married to a Pakistani man had to part with her two young children as they were sent back to their father from the Attari-Wagah border on Monday following a government diktat.

Sana, who is originally from Meerut’s Sardhana, had attempted to go back to her husband, Mohd Bilal in Karachi, on April 25 but was denied entry into Pakistan as she carries an Indian passport. She was visiting her parents in India on a 45-day visa that has expired.

On Monday, Sana reached the border to see her two children, three-year-old son and one-year-old daughter, go to their father. She returned to Meerut later. An emotional Sana told media persons: “Why is the government separating children from their mothers? What is our fault? What crime have we committed?”

Following the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, the Indian government, on April 27, revoked all visas issued to Pakistani citizens and ordered them to leave the country.

While Sana holds an Indian citizenship, her children, who were born in Karachi, are Pakistani citizens and were thus required to return to Pakistan. “I am forced to separate from my children because I am an Indian, and my children are Pakistani,” Sana told reporters.

“I am yet to receive the Pakistani citizenship, so I cannot go to Pakistan. My children came to India on a 45-day Pakistani visa, but now they can no longer stay here.”

Even on April 25, the authorities had permitted her children to cross the border. However, Sana refused to send them alone at the time. The mother and her kids were sent to the nearby Amritsar then.

Explaining her situation, Sana said: “As per the rule, I can get the Pakistani citizenship only after nine years of marriage. However, it’s been only five years since my marriage, so it will take me four more years to be eligible. Both my children were born in Karachi, so they have Pakistani citizenship.”

Sana, the daughter of Peeruddin from Ghosiyan, married Bilal of Karachi in 2020. She had come to India with her children to attend a family wedding on April 26.

As she stood at the border, Sana pleaded with the authorities: “Please don’t inflict this cruelty on mothers. I never thought that I will have to separate from my children.”

Bilal received the kids. Sana was uncertain if she could see her children again, Peeruddin said.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani woman, who married a man from Bulandshahr’s Khurja in 2022 and came to India last February on a tourist visa, hoped that she would not be forced to leave India.

Maryam, originally from Islamabad, married Amir on July 8, 2022. However, Maryam was unable to secure a long-term visa, resulting in a forced separation from her husband for nearly three years.

At Amir’s suggestion, Maryam finally arrived in India on a three-month tourist visa on February 12 this year. She applied for a long-term visa on March 15, but her application remains pending.