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Indian Express
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
To Attari and back, J&K constable: I would rather die than go to Pakistan
On April 26, when a senior officer called him to say that he and his eight siblings had to leave India because they were considered Pakistan citizens, Iftkhar Ali felt as if someone had cut the ground from beneath his feet. Having served 27 years in the J&K Police service and knowing no other home, he told his shocked superior officer he would 'kill himself' rather than cross the border. 'Like you, I too had only heard of Pakistan,' Iftkhar, a 45-year-old constable from Salwah village in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, tells The Indian Express now. 'I have everything — my wife and children, relatives, friends, and colleagues — here. There's nothing in Pakistan.' On April 29 — three days after he and his eight siblings were issued a 'Leave India' notice in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack — the Jammu and Kashmir High Court stayed it, ordering the central government and the J&K administration against forcing them to leave India. The order came on the back of a petition that he filed in the High Court against the notice. As a result, Ali and his eight siblings — older brothers Zulfqar Ali, 49, Mohammad Shafiq, 60, and Mohammad Shakoor, 52; and his sisters Shazia Tabsam, 42, Kouser Parveen, 47, Naseem Akhter, 50, Akseer Akhtar, 54, and Nashroon Akhter, 56 — have now returned to the village. Although he got a notice, neither his wife nor his three minor sons got one 'because they were all born in India, they didn't get the notice', he says. The eighth of nine children, Ali was two years old when his parents, Faqur Din and Fatima Bi, brought him to the erstwhile state of J&K. In their petition, Iftikhar and his siblings said that their father Faqur Din was a 'hereditary state subject' and Indian citizen according to the 1955 Citizenship Act. They also said he owned about 17 acres of land and a house at Salwah village, adding that their father was considered a permanent resident of J&K 'even at the time of enactment of the J&K Constitution in 1957'. A permanent resident certificate was a document previously issued under the Jammu and Kashmir Permanent Resident Certificate (Procedure) Act, 1963, to prove one's permanent residence in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir. A feature under the special status offered to the state, the certification ceased to exist after the Article 370 in 2019. According to the petition, what cast shadows over their citizenship is that during the 1965 war, Pakistan took over areas along the Line of Control, including the place where Faqur Din and his wife Fatima Bi lived with children, then three. As a result, the family spent years at a camp in Tralkhal in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, during which time the couple had six more children. Locals in the area claim Faqur Din and his family returned to Salwah in 1983. Posted in Katra since earlier this year, Iftkhar joined the state police in the late 90s — when militancy was at its peak. His first posting was in 1998 at Deval Police Post in Reasi district's Gulabgarh area, he says. It was his senior officer from Mendhar police station in Poonch who called him about the 'Leave India' notice that the Poonch Deputy Commissioner had issued. 'On hearing myself being dubbed as a Pakistani national, I was shocked,' he says. 'I told them I would rather die than put my signature on it, but I was advised to do so, and eventually, I approached the HC.' Earlier this week, even while his siblings were taken to the Attari border, he approached the High Court with his brother Zulfikar. Then, the two brothers, by then taken into police custody and kept at Belicharana, waited for the court ruling. In his order Tuesday, Justice Rahul Bharti said 'prima facie a case is made out' from the revenue papers that their counsel had submitted that they were not Pakistani citizens. The court also asked the Deputy Commissioner of Poonch to file an affidavit recording details of any property that the petitioners held, either in their own name or in reference to their late father Faqur Din. This came after the siblings claimed that the Faqur Din and his family did not enter India stealthily, but had, soon after came back, filed a petition in the High Court seeking that they be considered Indian citizens. 'The petition was, however, rejected by court with the observation that the right to citizenship can be decided only by an appropriate authority — the central government,' the siblings' petition in the court said. According to the family, they finally became state subjects — Iftkhar in 1997 and his siblings in 2000. Safeer Choudhary, an activist who protested against the deportation, says Iftkar's parents are buried at Salwah and all his family members are 'well-known for their pro-India stance'. 'During the last over three decades of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, none of them have ever been called by police or Army for questioning even on suspicion,' he claims. For Iftkhar, it is the support he got from the J&K Police force during this 'trying time' that he most appreciates. Ever since his return, there's been a steady stream of visitors at home, all offering their good wishes, the policeman says. 'I will always remain grateful to them for that,' he says.
Indian Express
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Taken to border for deportation, then given relief by court, J-K policeman and 8 siblings return to Poonch
A Jammu and Kashmir Police constable whose deportation to Pakistan was stayed by the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court returned with his eight siblings to Poonch Tuesday. Former Salwah Sarpanch Showkat Ahmed told The Indian Express that Iftkhar Ali, 45, and his siblings – all residents of Salwah in Poonch — were brought back from Attari in Punjab and kept at the Jammu district police lines Wednesday night, leaving for Poonch Thursday afternoon. Ali has been serving in the J&K Police for 27 years, and is currently posted at Katra. The development comes a day after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had stayed the deportation notice sent to the family by the Poonch Deputy Commissioner on April 26 on the back of the central government's orders to suspend visa services and sent back all 'Pakistan residents' except those who held long-term, official or diplomatic visas. By the time the HC stayed the notice, however, authorities had already taken all nine to the Attari border in Punjab. In their petition, Iftikhar Ali and his siblings said that their father Faqur Din was a 'hereditary state subject' and Indian citizen according to the 1955 Citizenship Act. They also said he owned about 17 acres of land and a house at Salwah village. Issued under the Jammu and Kashmir Permanent Resident Certificate (Procedure) Act, 1963, a permanent resident certificate was a document previously issued to prove one's permanent residence in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir. The feature under the special status offered to the state, the certification ceased to exist after the Article 370 in 2019. According to the petition, what put a cloud over their citizenship is that during the 1965 war, Pakistan took over areas along the Line of Control, including the place where Faqur Din and his wife Fatima Bi lived with children, then three. As a result, the family spent years at a camp in Tralkhal in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, during which time the couple had six more children. Locals in the area claim Faqur Din and his family returned to Kashmir between the late 1980s and early 1990s. In his order, Justice Rahul Bharti issued a notice to the Union of India and the administration of Jammu and Kasmir and also ordered that the nine petitioners should be forced to leave the UT. The order said that 'prima facie a case is made out' by the revenue papers that their counsel had submitted that they are not Pakistani citizens and asked the deputy commissioner of Poonch to file an affidavit recording details of any property that the petitioners held, either in their own name or in reference to their late father Faqur Din. The case was listed for next hearing on May 20.
Indian Express
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Poonch Constable, 8 siblings get stay on deportation, now ‘missing'
On Tuesday, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court gave respite to a serving police constable and his eight siblings, all residents of Salwah in Poonch, against a deportation notice sent to them in the wake of the Pahalgam attack. However, by then, the nine – chased by shadows of displacement during the 1965 war – had been transported to the Attari border in Punjab by the authorities, and their whereabouts are currently not known. The notice by the Poonch Deputy Commission, dated April 26, had been received by J&K Police Constable Iftkhar Ali, 45; his elder brothers Zulfqar Ali, 49, Mohammad Shafiq, 60, Mohammad Shakoor, 52; and his sisters Shazia Tabsam, 42, Kouser Parveen, 47, Naseem Akhter, 50, Akseer Akhtar, 54, and Nashroon Akhter, 56, on Sunday. This was as per the Centre's instruction that all residents of Pakistan not holding long-term, official or diplomatic visas leave the country. On Monday, the police took all the nine into custody and, the same night, drove them to Attari in Punjab for deportation the next morning. On Tuesday, issuing a notice to the Union of India and the Union Territory administration of J&K, among others, Justice Rahul Bharti directed that the nine petitioners 'not be asked or forced to leave UT of Jammu & Kashmir', saying that 'prima facie a case is made out' by the revenue papers submitted by their counsel that they are not Pakistani citizens. Asking the authorities to submit their 'objections' to this, Bhati said his direction would be subject to the same. The High Court also asked the Deputy Commissioner, Poonch, for an affidavit on any property held by the petitioners in their own name, or in reference to their late father Faqur Din in Salwah. The case was listed for next hearing on May 20. On Wednesday, asked about where the nine were now, Poonch SSP Shafqat Hussain said there was 'uncertainty about their whereabouts'. In their petition, Iftkhar Ali – who as per a PTI report has been serving in the J&K Police for 27 years, and is currently posted at the Katra base camp for the Vaishno Devi shrine – and his siblings said that their father Faqur Din was a 'hereditary state subject' (as per the permanent resident certificate which ceased to exist post abrogation of Article 370 in 2019) as well as an Indian citizen as per the 1955 Citizenship Act. They also said he owned about 17 acres of land and a house at Salwah village. Even at the time of enactment of the J&K Constitution in 1957, he was a permanent resident of J&K, they said. What put a cloud over their citizenship is that during the 1965 war, Pakistan took over areas along the Line of Control, including where Faqur Din along with his wife Fatima Bi and three of their children were settled. Even after the Tashkent agreement, several families could not return to their native places in view of the war-like situation in their areas. Faqur Din and his family spent a long time at a camp in Tralkhal, PoK, during which time they had six more children. As per the petition by the siblings, Faqur Din made frequent representations to the Pakistan government for help so as to return to his native village of Salwah. Local villagers confirm that the family returned between the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, a petition by Faqur Din to the High Court seeking directions that they not be moved out of J&K was rejected, with the observation that the right to citizenship can be decided only by an appropriate authority and that he should approach the Central government. In 1997, the J&K authorities for the first time issued state subject status, with Iftkhar Ali one of the recipients. His siblings were issued the same in 2000. However, even as the then state government admitted them as permanent residents, the issue of their nationality remained pending with the Central government. As per their petition to the High Court against their deportation, Iftkhar Ali and his siblings found themselves in further jeopardy when their state subject status was cancelled, reportedly on the basis of 'false' and 'frivolous' complaints by their relatives, with an eye on their property. Since then, their counsel said, they had filed various petitions before the court seeking directions to authorities to settle their issue, with a decision still pending. Former Salwah sarpanch Showkat Ahmed reported emotional scenes at Iftkhar Ali's house, with the families making passionate appeals to the government to stop their deportation. Iftkhar Ali's wife said her husband was born here and it was grave injustice to him and his children if their father was deported to a country that he does not belong to.
