The Hindu : National : Pakistani family deported amid drama

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004

National

National

Pakistani family deported amid drama

By Our Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL, OCT. 19. The way police went through with the deportation of four members of a Pakistani family on Saturday had an element of drama in it.

Faiza Sultan, granddaughter of Hamidullah Khan — the last ruler of the erstwhile princely State of Bhopal — along with her husband, Sardar Mohammed Akbar Khan, and their two sons, Nadim Khan and Taimur Khan, were asked to go to the police control room, ostensibly for "signing" some visa-related papers. Only on reaching there did they realise that a police team had been kept ready to take them to the railway station and put them on board the Amritsar-bound Nanded Express. From Attari in Punjab, they were made to cross the border and enter Pakistan on Monday.

Ms. Sultan had voluntarily sought Pakistani citizenship and migrated to that country along with her husband after Partition. Police sources told The Hindu that Ms. Sultan and Akbar Khan had been living in Bhopal along with their two married sons, Nadir Khan and Taimur Khan, for the last seven years after the expiry of their visa. Both Nadim and Taimur are also Pakistani citizens but their wives are Indian nationals, who have not changed their citizenship.

Visa norms violated

When contacted, the Bhopal Superintendent of Police, Pawan Shrivastava, said that the members of Ms. Sultan's family had to be deported as they had violated the visa regulations and overstayed.

Ms. Sultan had been visiting Bhopal frequently since 1996. In 1996 she tried to seek a long-term visa (LTV) but her short-term visa was extended by 30 days till December 12, 1996. Ms. Sultan and her husband had sought another extension in 1997 and were permitted to stay here till further orders but later they left for Pakistan to return again in 1999.

When contacted, police sources said that under the existing policy they could not have applied for an LTV and their application for a long-term stay had been rejected by the Government of India as well as the State Government.

Inquiries showed that on November 30, 2000 a case of forgery and conspiracy had also been registered against Ms. Sultan's husband by the Deputy Registrar Cooperative Societies here.

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