Pak woman

Dec.17, 2003                                                              M A I N   N E W S

Mobin finally gets to go home
S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 16
Every knock at the door makes the young Mobin jump with joy as she is expecting a police party to escort her and her mother, Shehnaz Parveen to Delhi for being deported to Pakistan through diplomatic channels.

Mobin will be going to Pakistan for the first time. She was born in a jail here following the rape of her mother by an officer of the prison in which she was lodged on the charges of illegally crossing the LoC.

Shehnaz had completed her one-year jail sentence in 1996, but was unable to get repatriated following official wrangles. The problem got complicated with the birth of her daughter whom the Pakistani government refused to allow entry.

Due to the changed scenario as a result of the peace talks between India and Pakistan, the authorities across the border have given a green light for their deportation.

Mobin is keen to meet her "maamu" Mushtaq Ahmed, who had taken up the matter with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan which has succeeded in persuading the Pakistan government to allow the mother and her child to return.

They had to be shifted to New Delhi for being handed over to the Pakistan High Commission yesterday, but now it might take some more days to complete the papers. They will be repatriated through the Wagah border, sources said. A police party consisting of two women constables and a sub-inspector will escort them to Delhi.

Shehnaz belongs to Abuwala village in the Punjab area of Pakistan. She strayed into India from Malni village in the Bhimber area of the PoK in 1995 when she wanted to commit suicide because of some family problems. Army personnel spotted her in the river and took her into custody.

She was taken to the Wagah border on June 21, 2001 for repatriation, but the Pakistani authorities did not allow her to enter that side since Mobin was accompanying her.

On the orders of the high court, the state government made a fixed deposit of Rs 3 lakh in the name of the girl. Mobin was studying in a local school where she has learnt to read and write Hindi.