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Straits Times
3 days ago
- Straits Times
Who faked my cheese? Paneer that's merely veneer shocks many Indians
Unbranded and crudely packaged paneer for sale at a store in India. The production and sale of such paneer has come under scrutiny with frequent reports of adulteration. ST PHOTO: DEBARSHI DASGUPTA NEW DELHI – For many Indians, especially vegetarians, paneer is an indispensable part of their meal. It is a household and restaurant staple eaten in myriad ways – whether scrambled with diced onions and tomatoes or cooked with peas in a spiced gravy. It is also a favourite quick fix for mothers who need healthy yet tasty options for their children's nutrition. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
‘An injustice': Renewed India-Pakistan tensions split families, dash reunion hopes
Ms Baskari (centre), an India-born Pakistani national, and her husband and aunt were in India to attend a family wedding on April 26 but had to skip it to return to Pakistan. ST PHOTO: DEBARSHI DASGUPTA ATTARI, Punjab, India – April 26 was meant to be a day of joy for Ms Baskari. The Pakistani national had come all the way from Karachi to India along with her husband, Mr Muhammad Rasheed, to attend her niece's wedding scheduled for that day in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. But Ms Baskari, who was born in India and uses only one name, could not be present for the wedding. Forced to cut her visit short, she found herself back at the India-Pakistan border at Attari on April 26, the day of the wedding, wiping away her tears as she waited to cross over into Pakistan. 'Everyone is at the wedding but here we are, travellers on the road,' Ms Baskari told The Straits Times. 'I came so close, and yet I was pushed far away,' she rued. The couple were among the more than 50 individuals waiting on April 26 for the border to open so that they could return home before the April 27 deadline set by the Indian government for Pakistani nationals to leave the country. The order followed a terror attack in Kashmir on April 22 that killed 27 people, an act the Indian government has blamed on Pakistan. It has cut short hard-won cross-border family reunions and even split families, accentuating the human cost of the renewed chill that has set in the ties between the two South Asian neighbours. Ms Baskari and Mr Rasheed had worked hard for the visit that came after a gap of 10 years, persevering through an arduous 14-month-long visa process that saw their applications being rejected twice. 'I was really happy (the day I got my visa),' said the 48-year-old woman. 'I called them right away, telling them to tell our relatives that we would be coming for the wedding.' People-to-people links between India and Pakistan have always been impeded by bilateral tensions, with New Delhi long accusing Islamabad of fomenting cross-border terrorism in Kashmir. It is a charge Pakistan denies. The two South Asian neighbours have also gone to full-blown war over the disputed region twice. In 2019, ties between the two countries plummeted following the February attack that killed 40 Indian security personnel and New Delhi's decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, and divide the state into two federally administered territories in August. That year, train and bus services between the two countries were suspended, and they remain so for more than five years now. The most recent attack on April 22, described as the worst on Indian civilians since the 2008 carnage in Mumbai, has further crippled people-to-people ties and aggravated bilateral antipathy. Not only has India shut the land border at Attari, this time, it has even suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, a key water-sharing agreement that was signed 1960. Pakistan has described the move as an 'act of war'. Among other distressed Pakistani nationals at Attari on April 26 was Ms Hemi Mali, a Hindu woman from Hyderabad in the province of Sindh, who crossed the border into India on April 22 for the first time. She was planning to see her 85-year-old mother in Jodhpur in Rajasthan but managed to spend only a few hours with her before she had to rush back to Attari to return to her country. With India suspending its visa services indefinitely for Pakistani nationals, there is no certainty when Ms Mali will be able to travel again to Jodhpur to meet her aged mother. F ear that she may not see her again tinged their farewell this time. 'It is an injustice,' she said, referring to the trip that was cut short abruptly. It had taken her and her son two attempts to secure a visa, and it cost the family, who run a garment shop, around 100,000 Pakistani rupees (S$467) to travel overland all the way from Hyderabad to Jodhpur. 'I hope to come again,' Ms Mali, however, added, waiting in an auto-rickshaw, her hand placed on a red insulated water canister to help them beat the 40-degree-plus heat in the region. 'May Allah reopen our border,' she told ST. Pakistani national Hemi Mali was planning to see her 85-year-old mother in India but managed to spend only a few hours with her before she had to return to her country. ST PHOTO: DEBARSHI DASGUPTA As many as 537 Pakistanis have gone back home since April 24 via the border that straddles Attari in India and Wagah in Pakistan, while 850 Indian nationals, who were in Pakistan, returned to India through the same route. The Indian government has strongly advised Indian nationals to avoid travelling to Pakistan, preventing them from crossing the border at Attari. This has partitioned families comprising nationals from both the countries. Indian women, who are married to Pakistani men and were in the country to visit their parents and other relatives, were not allowed to return, prompting several of these women to mount an angry protest on April 25 at Attari. 'The authorities say, 'we are not responsible, we are not responsible'. If they aren't, then who is,' a livid Ms Afsheen Jahangir, a 32-year-old Indian national, told reporters at Attari. She was not allowed to cross into Pakistan and reunite with her husband and two children, aged 9 and 7, who were waiting for her across the border at Wagah. Ms Jahangir, who has a visa that allows her to enter Pakistan only 'on foot' via Wagah, was instead forced to return to Jodhpur to her parents' house. She had come to India on March 16 to seek treatment for her asthmatic condition and is now not sure when she will see her family again. Speaking to ST on the phone from Jodhpur on April 28, she said that the terrorists who killed tourists in Kashmir were not her 'uncles or brothers'. 'So, why should I and others among the public suffer because of them,' she added . Motorists waiting to cross the border into Pakistan at Attari in India's Punjab state on April 26. ST PHOTO: DEBARSHI DASGUPTA In another heart-rending instance, Indian citizen Zakiya Firdous, who recently married M r Sahibzada Munadi Ahmad, a Pakistani citizen, was photographed by Reuters at Attari on April 25 bidding him a tearful farewell. The intricate henna designs on her hands were still fresh from their wedding on April 19. Similar stories of separation have also come from Pakistan, which too has reacted with tit-for-tat measures, suspending visas for Indians and not permitting its nationals to cross the border into India at Wagah. Ms Savita Kumari, a Pakistani Hindu national who holds a long-term Indian visa and was visiting the country to meet her family, remains stranded in Pakistan along with her two young children who are Indian nationals. Married to an Indian man, she holds a 'Long Term Visa' (LTV) for India, but was not allowed to cross Wagah. She claimed she was told by Pakistani border authorities that her children could cross over to reunite with their father in India but not her. 'My children, an 8-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl, can cross into India, but how can I leave my children alone?' she told a Pakistani digital media platform. This was despite India exempting LTVs already issued to Hindu Pakistanis, along with diplomatic and official visas, from its ongoing ban on visas for Pakistani nationals. Back at Attari, Mr Baldev Chawla, a 74-year-old Hindu Pakistani national who runs a paper carton packaging business in Ghotki in Sindh province, was waiting in a car to cross over into Pakistan. He came to India on April 3 with his wife to visit their three daughters, all of whom, he said, have acquired Indian citizenship after marrying Indians. Mr Baldev Chawla had planned to stay in India for 45 days but was angry at being forced to return early. ST PHOTO: DEBARSHI DASGUPTA Mr Chawla's wife, who has an LTV, chose to stay back in Raipur in Central India with one of their daughters, a widow with a young child. He had planned to stay in India for 45 days but was angry at being forced to return early. 'I am so upset that if they (who attacked the tourists in Kashmir) come in front of me, I will not spare them,' said Mr Chawla. Those like him who are returning hastily are not sure when they will be able to reunite with their loved ones. Even before the April 22 attack, it had become increasingly difficult for Indians and Pakistanis to visit each other's countries, with stricter scrutiny for visas and reduced transportation links because of strained relations between the two countries. 'I had to go through two five-month-long visa processing cycles,' said 28-year-old Arun Kumar, a Pakistani Hindu from Sanghar town in southern Pakistan. Mr Kumar wished to travel to India to visit his relatives in Gujarat and undertake religious pilgrimages. Sadly, he received his visa just a few days before the terrorist attack. 'I got the visa after nearly a year of effort, but now it's useless,' he lamented. Another Pakistani family echoed similar frustration. 'My sister lives in Mumbai, and I last saw her in 2015 when we visited,' said Ms Shireen Hasan, a 50-year-old resident of Karachi. 'The process of getting a visa is so cumbersome and painful that even our Muslim relatives in India prefer we don't visit – it puts them in a difficult position with the Indian authorities.' But despite mounting challenges, there are those like Ms Baskari and her husband who persist and say they will apply again for a visa to come to India. 'We would like to come again, and if we get that opportunity, why not?' Mr Rasheed said. 'We have that hope.' Debarshi Dasgupta is The Straits Times' India correspondent covering the country and other parts of South Asia. With additional reporting by Ashraf Khan in Islamabad. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
