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Toddler from PoK enters India

Nirupama Subramanian

Detained by immigration officials at Wagah

ISLAMABAD: Two-year-old Movez Ishaq, who was orphaned in the 2005 earthquake and accepted by India as a national to facilitate his travel to Jammu and Kashmir, crossed the border at Wagah on Saturday with his brother and grandfather, a relative said.

But in a twist to the story, Movez's entry was illegal as he travelled without any travel document. His grandfather never collected the boy's emergency certificate for travel from the Indian High Commission.

Movez, his five-year-old brother Suddess, and their grandfather Abdul Ahad were detained by immigration officials at the border for six hours but were allowed to go later, said Jamil Rahman, a member of the family who lives here.

Nationality issue

The boys were in Mr. Rahman's care after their dramatic rescue from the quake that killed their parents. Mr. Ahad, their paternal grandfather and an Indian national, arrived in Pakistan in March to take them to Srinagar. But first he had to sort out the issue of Movez's nationality — he was born in Muzaffarabad, his father was Pakistani and his mother Indian. His brother, who was born in Srinagar, has an Indian passport.

Mr. Ahad applied for the toddler's travel documents at the High Commission on May 18. But he along with the boys left for Wagah, hours before word could reach him that the nationality issue had been sorted out, said Mr. Rahman.

"At the time of application, there was no clear date from the High Commission when the papers would be cleared. Abdul Ahad was disheartened. He did not want to be in Pakistan for an indefinite period; he had already spent so many months here. His health was failing too," Mr. Rahman said.

No-objection certificate

So Mr. Ahad decided to take a chance at the border, carrying only the no-objection certificate from the Pakistan Government for the boy's travel to India.

High Commission officials said they had processed Movez's papers on May 24 and were waiting for Mr. Ahad to contact them.

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