Disabled Pak teen appeals to PM Modi to allow his mother to return to Karachi

Karachi: A disabled Pakistani teenager, who was sent back from India without his treatment being completed, has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government to allow his mother to join them in Karachi.

Ayan’s mother, who has an Indian passport and her sister, were not allowed to return to Pakistan when the youngster’s family was expelled from New Delhi where they had gone for his treatment.

Ayan, 16, was carried off the train and put on a stretcher at the Karachi Cantt Railway Station when he returned on Monday from Lahore after his family was sent back by Indian authorities via Wagah.

“I had gone there for treatment at the Indraprastha Hospital, where I was receiving critical treatment under Dr Sudhir Kumar. But after the Pahalgam incident we were all told to return to Pakistan immediately,” he told media.

Ayan was accompanied to Delhi by his parents, brothers, uncle and cousins.

He was shot by police last year due to a misunderstanding and this left him paralysed from the lower body.

“My wife is from India and after we got married, she came to Karachi. But when we were returning since she and her sister have Indian passports the authorities didn’t allow them to come with us despite valid visas,” Ayan’s father said.

He said they had gone to Delhi last month with great hopes and were living with relatives because of the specialised and better medical care.

“His treatment had started but now it has been left incomplete,” Haleem said.

Ayan’s case is not the only one where Pakistani families, that had gone to India for medical treatment of their children, have been told to return as per the Indian government’s directives after the Pahalgam attack which left 26 people dead.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 Indians have left Pakistan for their home via the Wagah border over the last six days after they were forced to cut short their visits because of the cancellation of visas in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, an official said on Monday.

“Over 1,000 Indians have left Pakistan for their home via the Wagah border over the last six days. Similarly, more than 800 Pakistanis have returned home by Monday,” a government official told PTI.

He added that those possessing long-term visas from both countries are facing problems in repatriation.

On Sunday, 236 Pakistanis returned home and 115 Indians crossed into their homeland.

At Wagah, Pakistan Rangers and India’s Border Security Force thoroughly checked the papers of the repatriated citizens before allowing them to proceed with immigration.