The deportees were all collected from various districts and taken in buses to Punjab, where they will be handed over to the Pakistani authorities at the Wagah border, officials added
A BSF soldier inspects the documents of a Pakistani citizen accompained by her husband, an Indian citizen, as she prepares to return to her country through the India-Pakistan border post in Punjab, on Tuesday. Pic/PTI
Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday have set the ball rolling for the deportation of 60 Pakistanis, one of them being the mother of a policeman killed in a terror attack, officials said.
They were all collected from various districts and taken in buses to Punjab, where they will be handed over to the Pakistani authorities at the Wagah border, officials added.
Most of the deportees are wives and children of ex-militants, who returned to the valley under the 2010 rehabilitation policy for former ultras, PTI reported.
Of them, 36 had been living in Srinagar, nine each in Baramulla and Kupwara, four in Budgam, and two in Shopian district, officials said.
Shameema Akhtar, the mother of Special Police Officer Mudasir Ahmad Shaikh, who died in May 2022 while fighting terrorists, is one of the deportees, reported PTI.
Mudasir was part of the team of undercover operatives of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, which intercepted a group of foreign terrorists.
"My sister-in-law is from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir which is our territory. Only Pakistanis should have been deported," an apparently not happy Mohammad Younus, Mudasir's uncle, told reporters.
After Mudasir's death, Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the family, so did the Lieutenant Governor, twice, he said.
"My bhabhi was 20 years old when she came here and has been living here for 45 years now. My appeal to (PM Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah is that they should not do it," Younus said.
Reconsider decision to deport Pakistanis married to Indians: Mehbooba Mufti
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday urged the government to reconsider the decision to deport Pakistani citizens who are married to Indians and have been living here for many years, reported PTI.
She said a compassionate approach needs to be adopted.
"The recent government directive to deport all Pakistani nationals from India has raised serious humanitarian concerns, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir. Many affected are women who came to India 30-?40 years ago, married Indian citizens, raised families and have long been part of our society," Mufti said in a post on X.
The former Jammu-Kashmir CM said deporting individuals who have lived peacefully in India for decades would be inhumane and would inflict deep emotional distress on the families.
"We urge the government to reconsider this decision and adopt a compassionate approach regarding women, children and elderly. Deporting individuals who have lived peacefully in India for decades would not only be inhumane but also would inflict deep emotional and physical distress on families who now know no other home," said Mufti.
(With PTI inputs)
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