|| K.LEADER DESK
The struggle of Iram Sayaar from Pakistan, who came to Kashmir along with her husband under 2010-rehabilitation policy for former militants, to visit her ailing father in Rawalpindi has brought into focus the heart-wrenching tragedy faced by the women like her from across the border who are “settled” in different corners of the Valley, reports Kashmir leader correspondent. Last time Iram Sayaar received a call from her home across the border, her elder sister, in a choked voice, insisted that she should visit her ailing father.
“Abu (father) is not keeping well these days,” Iram’s sister told her, more than a fortnight ago. “His condition is deteriorating fast for past one month.” “You should come,” Iram’s sister insisted, in choked voice, before disconnecting the phone. Since then, Iram has been craving to see her father, who is on “deathbed”. But there is now way the Lone family from Nadigam village of Shopian can send their daughter-in-law back to her home in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, for “one last meeting” with her father, Shahid Tanveer. In official records, Iram’s status in the State is that of an illegal migrant who don’t enjoy any rights expect for her life.
Iram’s tragic story dates back to 2012 when, she along with her husband Sayaar Ahmad Lone, a former Kashmiri militant, dared to “see a dream to start life afresh in the Valley”. Lone had crossed Line of Control, the de-facto border between India and Pakistan, in 2001 for arms training. Years later he met Iram and both got married in Rawalpindi in 2007 before Lone decided to take flight to Kashmir via Nepal route under the policy for return and rehabilitation of former Kashmiri militants which was announced by former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in 2010. Iram and their daughter, now 7-years old, joined him. While crossing the Nepal border the “authorities” seized Iram’s travelling documents while cautioning her “she could land in trouble if the documents were recovered from her possession by any official”.
A nervous Iram surrendered her passport least knowing it was the beginning of a tragedy that was awaiting her, like dozens of woman from across the border who came to Kashmir along with their husbands under the rehabilitation policy for former militants. Since 2012, Iram hasn’t been able to visit her home. But with the passage of everyday, ever since she received the phone call from her home across the border, she is going restless to see her father. “I somehow want to go home and stay with my parents for some time. I haven’t seen them for four years,” she sighed. After a brief pause, she continued: “I appeal to the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and the Government of India to please allow me to see my father.” Though Tanveer, Iram’s father, has remained ill for past three years, his condition has deteriorated for the past one month and doctors have given any hope of his recovery, said Iram’s husband, Lone.
Since then, Iram has been craving to see her father, who is on “deathbed”. But there is now way the Lone family from Nadigam village of Shopian can send their daughter-in-law back to her home in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, for “one last meeting” with her father, Shahid Tanveer. In official records, Iram’s status in the State is that of an illegal migrant who don’t enjoy any rights expect for her life.
“He has heart and kidney problems and is suffering from severe diabetes which has affected his eyesight. His mental condition has also deteriorated,” said Lone. Iram’s is a “humanitarian” issue, said Lone, appealing to the Government to facilitate his wife’s visit to Rawalpindi. Though Lone hasn’t given up hope, he however knows that only a “miracle” could help Iram to meet her father. “We are hopeful. Rest Allah knows the better,” Lone responded to a question. While Iram’s tale is heart wrenching, it is not the first of its kind. She has however brought to the fore the problems faced by the Pakistani women married to former Kashmiri militants, settled in the Valley.
On April 15, 2014, many of these women hit the roads in Kashmir demanding the Government should provide them the facilities available to other citizens of Kashmir and facilitate their visit to their homes in different parts of Pakistan and Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK). “We have no identity, no ration cards, no schools agree to admit our children, our husbands are not accepted as normal human beings in the society nor do they have the means to support their families,” a Pakistani woman who had came here from Bagh area of PaK with her husband and two children had told the media.
The women had staged protests in the Srinagar press enclave, a day a Pakistani woman Saira Bhat, 30, had set herself on fire in Naidkhai area of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district. Saira, a mother of three children, was admitted to a Srinagar hospital where she succumbed to burn injuries. Her husband, Javaid Ahmad Bhat, had gone to Pakistan in 1993 for arms training. But he, like hundreds of other former militants returned in 2012 in response to the rehabilitation policy for ex-militants who had crossed the LoC for arms training from 1989 to 2009 but had later given up arms due to “change of heart” and were willing to return to the State.
But the problem for Iram and other woman from Pakistan, who have lost their identity in the Valley, is that New Delhi and the State Government’s doesn’t recognize Nepal as a legal route under the 2010 rehabilitation. Under the policy, only four routes- JCP, Wagah/Attari, Salamabad/ Chakkan-da-Bagh crossing on the Line of Control – and Indira Gandhi International Airport have been notified for the return of these “misguided” youth. The policy, which is conditional on “change of heart”, includes identification, monitoring, debriefing, rehabilitation and reintegration of former militants into normal life.
It requires their parents to file surrender applications before the Superintendents of Police concerned, the former militants can also file applications on their own to the Indian High Commission in Pakistan. The applications are then scrutinised by various intelligence agencies, and if cleared, they can enter the state. But most of the ex-militants and their families have, since 2010, preferred the Nepal route to return to Kashmir. At least 489 youth along with their wives and children have returned from Pakistan/Pakistan administered Kashmir via Nepal route from 2003 till May 22, 2016, the Government recently informed the House, making these former militants and their families ineligible to any facilities enjoyed by locals.
Trapped in this web of legalities and a silent battle between India and Pakistan over the return of former Kashmiri militants, it is the Pakistani women who have not only lost their identity but hope to meet their relatives across the border as well.
For the first time the problems faced by these Pakistani women resonated in the Kashmir Assembly on June 22, 2016 when legislator of ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Wachi, Aijaz Ahmad Mir pleaded to the Government to allow Iram to visit her father. “Her father is on the deathbed. This is a humanitarian issue. The Government should facilitate her visit,” Mir asked the Government. A Home Department official however said even the 2010-rehabilitation scheme was not an amnesty.
“If there are cases against them they will still be arrested and prosecuted,” the official said. The former militants however argue that they avoided Government designated routes as both Indian and Pakistani authorities wouldn’t cooperate in the complex documentation process. A senior police official said there was a proper procedure to for these former militants and their families to cross the LoC. “They have to be handed over by Pakistani authorities to Indian civil authorities at the identified points under the 2010 policy. But it is not happening,” he said. “The main aim of the amnesty scheme was to bring them back and allow them to settle for normal lives.” Trapped in this web of legalities and a silent battle between India and Pakistan over the return of former Kashmiri militants, it is the Pakistani women who have not only lost their identity but hope to meet their relatives across the border as well.
