A border ran through it: The life and lonely death of an 80-year-old Kashmiri man

Scroll.in

28-05-2025

Around 7 in the morning on April 26, there was a knock on the door of the Bhat family home in Srinagar.
The visitor was a low-ranking official from Jammu and Kashmir police's Criminal Investigation Department. He had come with a 'Notice to Leave India' for one of the members of the family – an 80-year-old bedridden and immobile man, Abdul Waheed Bhat.
Four days before, a terror attack in Pahalgam had left 26 civilians dead. It soon pushed India and Pakistan to the brink of war.
In response to Pakistan's purported involvement in the terrorist attack, India directed states to identify Pakistani nationals and ensure their exit.
The Jammu and Kashmir police officials were at Bhat's door to carry out that order.
For three days, Bhat's family tried to reason with the authorities and the police to prevent his deportation. They asserted that he was not a Pakistani national, even though Indian authorities claimed so.
'He was born in Srinagar and had lived most of his life in Kashmir, barring 15 years that he spent in Pakistan,' a relative of Bhat, who did not want to be identified, told Scroll. 'He had been living in Kashmir since 1980.'
They submitted his medical reports, which showed that he could not speak or stand, nor be left alone without assistance.
Besides, the authorities had no answers about where in Pakistan Bhat was being sent.
Despite their pleas, on the morning of April 29, the Jammu and Kashmir police put Abdul Waheed Bhat, paralysed and unable to communicate, on a bus headed for the Attari border in Punjab.
There was no one with him, except for 40-odd Pakistani nationals brought from various parts of Jammu and Kashmir to be deported to Pakistan.
A day later, as Indian officials tried to put together the paperwork needed for his deportation, Bhat died in the bus outside the check post in Attari – alone and unattended, on the cusp of India and Pakistan. He had nothing on him, except a few medicines, some diapers, prescriptions, a blanket and a water bottle.
In his death as in his life, the shadows cast by hostilities between India and Pakistan – by the border that divided the two countries – had caught up with Abdul Waheed Bhat.
A life-changing visit
Like countless others, Bhat's life was shaped by the events set in motion by the Partition of British India in 1947.
Bhat was born in Khanyar, a neighbourhood in Srinagar's downtown area, the youngest of his parents' four children, a relative of his told Scroll. He declined to be identified. Bhat's father was an officer in the customs and excise department.
In 1965, when Bhat must have been in Class 3 or 4, he travelled to Pakistan along with his maternal aunt, whose two sons had moved there after Partition. 'They had gone to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir without any visa or any other document,' the relative said. 'At that time, all one needed to go to the other side was a legal permit, which they had.'
In the 1960s, it was common for Kashmiris to travel across the border under a permit system, introduced in 1948. The system regulated travel between the two parts of Jammu and Kashmir, explained Shahla Hussain, associate professor of South Asian History at St. John's University, New York.
'This was separate from the broader India-Pakistan passport and visa scheme adopted in 1952, which governed travel between the two countries more generally,' Hussain told Scroll in an email interview.
Unlike passports, the permits to travel to the other side 'were issued by the state government and required elaborate approvals', said Hussain, the author of a book titled Kashmir in the Aftermath of Partition in 2021. 'It is plausible that Bhat used such a permit route to travel to Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the 1960s.'
But fate had other plans for Bhat as he stepped into the part of Kashmir under the control of Pakistan.
Shortly after their arrival, a war between India and Pakistan broke out. In August 1965, India and Pakistan engaged in a military conflict over Kashmir.
This was the second war – after 1948 – between the two countries over the region. The hostilities between the two neighbours only ceased following diplomatic intervention by the United States and the USSR.
'Bhat and his aunt could not return and got stuck there,' the relative said. 'When the borders reopened after some time, Bhat's aunt chose to remain in Pakistan with her sons. Bhat's family in Kashmir asked him to stay back with her.'
Five years later, a message arrived from home for Bhat. 'In April 1970, Bhat's mother passed away,' the relative said. 'The loss left a deep void in his father's life. That's when he asked Bhat to return to Kashmir.'
But returning to Kashmir was not as easy as it had been five years before. The war had hardened the borders.
Movement across the ceasefire line – which became the Line of Control after the 1972 Simla Agreement between Indian and Pakistan – was significantly curtailed after the 1965 war, said Hussain.
'Although the permit system technically remained in place, in practice, I presume it might have become increasingly difficult to enter the Indian side of Kashmir, particularly for individuals who had spent extended periods in Pakistan,' she said. 'Such individuals might have often been perceived as potential security risks and subjected to intense scrutiny.
Bhat had travelled to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir through a process that did not involve any passport or visa, without any documents of citizenship. When he wanted to return to his home in Srinagar, his entry was barred.
'Bhat was forced to apply for a Pakistani passport,' the relative said.
That itself took another decade. After staying in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for around 15 years, Bhat finally stepped foot in India in 1980. 'He was welcomed with a huge reception by his family at the Attari-Wagah border,' the relative said. 'Yes, the same border where he eventually died.'
A new life
Back in Kashmir, Abdul Waheed Bhat settled down in his ancestral home in Khanyar locality in Srinagar. He started a poultry business and went on with his life.
It was a peaceful time. A militant movement seeking an independent Kashmir was yet to roil the Valley.
But the shadow of his long-stay in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir never really left him alone. A few years after his return, the Jammu and Kashmir police lodged a first information report against him for his alleged 'overstay in India'.
A chargesheet was presented in the case. 'However, the court acquitted him of all charges, stating that the prosecution had failed to prove the case,' the relative said.
What this meant is that the Indian government had failed to prove that Abdul Waheed Bhat was a Pakistani national.
Nevertheless, Bhat never forgot the fact that he did not fit easily into the grid of citizenship, that there was no official recognition of his identity – a Kashmiri on a Pakistani passport, who lived in India.
'He did not get married as he always believed that he was neither recognised as a Pakistani nor as an Indian,' the relative said. 'As he was constantly under surveillance, he thought it would be better to not ruin a girl's life by marrying her.'
Deteriorating health
With the passage of years, Bhat's health deteriorated, though he continued to live on his own.
In 2016, Bhat suffered a major heart attack, prompting doctors to implant several stents in his body. Five years later, in 2021, he had a brain stroke. Two more strokes followed in 2022 and 2023.
In 2025, just two months before his death, Bhat suffered another stroke that left his body completely paralysed.
As a result, he shifted to the home of his sister, his only surviving sibling, on the outskirts of Srinagar. 'He could not even eat on his own and was completely dependent on others,' the relative added.
A medical condition certificate issued by a block medical officer in January this year following a physical inspection of Bhat states that the 'brain stroke couple of years back … has triggered a neuromuscular disability resulting in his confinement to bed'.
The certificate, accessed by Scroll, also noted that Bhat has been 'bedridden for more than five years and the disability seems to be of permanent nature'.
It declares, 'He is not at all able to stand on his own.'
The doctor-certified document also mentions that Bhat was on 'psychotropic medication' as his 'physical stress' had turned him 'irritable' and 'hostile'. It adds, '…in his best interest he should not be left without any attendant overlooking his safety.'
The deportation
Two days after the 'Notice to Leave India' was handed over to Bhat's family, police officials paid several visits to the house of Bhat, taking his photographs and telling him that he had to leave India. 'But Bhat could not understand anything,' the relative said.
The requests from his family members to the police officials to not deport him went unheeded.
A senior security official in Jammu and Kashmir said the decision to deport Pakistani nationals had been taken by the Centre. 'We were just executing the orders,' said the official, who declined to be identified.
The official conceded that the family had approached the administration and police authorities with Bhat's medical records. 'The situation was really tense at that time,' he said. 'The local administration could not have intervened in a decision made by the Union government.'
Later that night, at 11, the local police station called a relative of Bhat and asked them to bring him to the police station. 'They said they had to take some photographs,' the relative said. 'When Bhat arrived with some family members, they were informed that a few police personnel from the station would accompany him to the Police Control Room.'
On reaching the Police Control Room in Srinagar, Bhat's family realised that he was going to be deported. Dozens of civilians had been lined up and three buses were on standby. 'Around 3.30 am on April 29, the police officials put all the civilians on these buses and drove off for Punjab,' the relative said.
According to the relative, the family was not allowed to follow the buses that were being escorted by security vehicles.
However, the senior administration official told Scroll that relatives of the deportees had not been prohibited from accompanying them till the border. 'Along with Bhat, there were 36 other Pakistani nationals living in Jammu and Kashmir who were taken for deportation to Pakistan,' he said. 'If their family members could reach Attari by following these buses, one wonders why his family did not.'
For nearly a day and a half, Bhat's family had no information about his condition. Around 8 pm on April 30, Bhat's family in Srinagar received a call from a police station in Punjab, informing them that he had died.
The family still has no clear idea about Bhat's final moments. 'We heard from someone that he had died of dehydration,' the relative said. 'He had likely remained in the bus the entire time and being completely paralysed, he must have been unable to ask anyone for water or help.'
Bhat's body was brought back by the Srinagar administration on the night of May 1.
The next morning, around 8.30, Bhat was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Srinagar's Malkha locality. 'His funeral prayers were held in Khanyar, where he was born and grew up,' the relative added.
His family is haunted by several questions about Bhat's lonely death on the India-Pakistan border. His relative said: 'The question that will always remain is: 'Who killed Abdul Waheed Bhat?''