J&K cop, 8 siblings to return from Punjab after HC stays their deportation to Pakistan

Jammu: In a major relief to a police personnel and his eight siblings, including five sisters, authorities on Wednesday suspended their deportation to Pakistan on the orders of the high court and are bringing them back from Punjab to reunite them with their families in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.

The siblings were shifted from Jammu and Kashmir to Punjab for their deportation to Pakistan on Wednesday morning, despite the high court admitting their plea against the step and granting them temporary relief.

The nine members of the extended family were among the more than two dozen people, mostly from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), who were served deportation notices by authorities in Poonch, Rajouri and Jammu districts.

While some of them, including Pakistani women married to Jammu and Kashmir residents, have already been deported, several others are still waiting at the Attari and Wagah borders, officials said, adding that the Pakistani nationals, many of whom were living in the Jammu region for decades, were taken in buses to Punjab for their deportation over the past two days.

In the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 people, mostly tourists, dead, the Centre announced a slew of measures, including suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, downgrading diplomatic relations with Islamabad and ordering all Pakistanis on short-term visas to leave India by April 27 or face action.

The police personnel, Ifthkar Ali (45), and his eight siblings including five sisters aged between 42 and 56 years got a respite when the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh admitted their petition claiming that they are not Pakistani nationals and have been living in Salwah village for generations.

"(The) petitioners be not asked or forced to leave the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. This direction is, however, subject to objections from the other side," Justice Rahul Bharti said in an order after hearing the plea of Ali, who has served in the police department for the last 27 years and is currently posted at the Katra base camp of the Vaishno Devi shrine.

Admitting their petition, supported by revenue records to prima facie establish that they are bona fide residents of Poonch district, the judge asked government lawyers to submit a detailed report within two weeks and listed the case for the next hearing on May 20.

The court also directed the Poonch deputy commissioner to furnish an affidavit with respect to the status of property holding, if any, by the petitioners.

However, the nine siblings were taken from Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district to Punjab, where they stayed overnight for their subsequent deportation to Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah border.

"The deportation of Ali and his siblings was put on hold on the court's orders. The authorities have released them and they are being brought back from Punjab," socio-political activist Safeer Choudhary told PTI.

Earlier in the day, Choudhary said, "We received the copy of the court order on Wednesday morning and immediately took up the matter with the Poonch district administration.... To our surprise, neither civil nor police officers are taking the responsibility to implement the court order." Choudhary, along with their relatives, including the wife and two minor children of Ali, staged a protest outside the Press Club here and appealed for the intervention of the home minister and lieutenant governor to provide "justice to the family".

"They are residents of Poonch, with Ali serving the police department for nearly three decades. Ali's father went to PoK in 1965 but returned in 1983 and is buried in his ancestral graveyard. They have more than 175 kanals of land according to revenue records and also possess all the documents," he said.

Emotional scenes were witnessed at their house in Mendhar, with their spouses and children making passionate appeals to the government to stop their deportation.

"We have no relatives in Pakistan. Where will they stay there?" Mohammad Farooq asked.

Ali's wife said her husband was born in Mendhar and it is grave injustice to him and his children if their father is deported to a country that he does not belong to.

"What will my children do without their father?" she asked, adding, "We regret the loss of innocent lives in terror attacks but do not take revenge on us as we have done no wrong. In fact, my husband is part of the police force that is fighting against terrorism." Similar heart-wrenching scenes unfolded in Rajouri district, where two aged sisters -- Zameer Fatima and Sageer Fatima -- were among the four people taken to Punjab for deportation.

The sisters, who were hardly able to walk on their own, have been living with their families in the Sharda Sharief area for 43 years. They raised their families after getting married to two cousin brothers.

"This is nothing short of mourning in our family. They are frail and afflicted with various ailments and who is there to take care of them?" Fareed Hussain asked, requesting the government with "folded hands" to spare them from deportation.

Sageer Fatima said, "I returned to Rajouri in 1983 along with my mother and sister. My mother died here. My children and grandchildren are all here and it is grave injustice to separate me from them."