This story is from August 15, 2021

PARTITIONED DUE TO PANDEMIC

PARTITIONED DUE TO PANDEMIC
Around 800 Pakistani citizens are estimated to be stuck in India. A number of Indians are stranded in Pakistan too (Visual: Shreyas Bedare)
A Hindu family is getting restless to reach Pakistan and join their kin. A Muslim wants to return to India to be with his old mother. The pandemic has led to another partition of sorts for many. Each year many travel across the borders to meet their kin. Such movement not only hit a roadblock due to Covid but also left people stranded on either side. Away from their families, with businesses hit, going back is an endless struggle. TOI tracks members of families on either side of the border as both countries celebrate their Independence Day

Nagpur: When both India and Pakistan celebrate their Independence days on August 14 and 15 respectively, for some families it may also bring a sense of being partitioned from their loved ones.
Living in Balaghat town of Madhya Pradesh, Ajeet Nagdev, a Pakistani citizen living in India, has made appeal after appeal to be allowed to reach Utsa Mohammed, his hometown in the Baluchistan province.

In Karachi, Mohammed Faisal wants to return home to Bhopal to be with his mother who is unwell. Nagpur’s Umesh Kewalramani waits for his brother stranded at Ghotki city in Sindh to return. Umesh has obtained Indian citizenship and his brother holds a Pakistani passport, but was living in India. He had gone to meet his sick father and remains stuck.
On a visit to meet his son in Indore, Darshanlal and his wife Sandhyakumari too want to return to Pakistan to join their kin. If not partition, Covid has left families separated across the borders. The crisis began with the first wave and continues till the time when the pandemic has ebbed in large parts of the sub-continent.
Even as a number of stranded persons have been repatriated from time to time in the last two years, people continue to be stuck on both sides. Around 800 Pakistani citizens are estimated to be stuck in India. A number of Indians are stranded in Pakistan too.The movements that were curbed again during the second wave have not been eased yet.A crossover was scheduled on April 23, but before that Pakistan shut its border for Indians, laying down a stricter Covid protocol. Indians stranded in Pakistan too face uncertainty as repeated calls to the embassy seeking clarification have gone unanswered.

Shanker Lalwani, the BJP MP from Indore, who has been taking up the cause, said he recently had a word with the home ministry. The Indian side has decided to take in those wanting to come. For that they will have to apply for an NoC from Pakistan.
Sources said that Pakistani has made a list of emergency cases and such persons would get priority when a crossover is planned in coordination with India.
Kapeel Kumar, a government servant in Pakistan and relative of Nagdev, said it’s time that the government should allow repatriation. If persons coming from other countries are allowed then why not India?
Member of the senate defence committee Mushahid Hussain says both the governments must cooperate to solve the humanitarian crisis. Red tape and scoring political points must not come in the way of reuniting families on either side of the border. The two countries had stuck to their agreement of not attacking the civil population during the 1965 and 1971 wars. It’s time for both governments to rise to the occasion again and help stranded citizens.
Stories of separation

For A fresh start

Ajeet Nagdev, 40, has been in India since nearly a decade on a long-term visa with plans to become a citizen. He earned a livelihood selling hosiery garments in village marts near Balaghat.
His world was shattered this year when his wife, Rekha Kumari, passed away due to a kidney ailment. His eight-year-old daughter Laveena was born in India and her name was endorsed in her mother’s passport. With the mother no more, even the passport became invalid, hampering Laveena’s crossover to Pakistan. Rekha Kumari died just a few days before the crossover was scheduled but it got cancelled at the last moment.
After TOI reported his case, the Pakistani embassy issued a passport to Laveena. However, borders remain shut.
Having lost his savings due to lockdown and his wife’s treatment, Nagdev plans to start afresh back in his hometwon in Usta Mohammed. “Life is only getting tougher here. It’s difficult to work and also take care of children at home. I have a joint family in Pakistan. If I’m able to return, the kids can be looked after and I can start some business,” he says.
Nagdev has been unable to pay the rent and hopes that the Pakistani authorities relent at least in his case.
Anxious days

Mohammed Faisal now spends restless days in Karachi. Married to a Pakistani, Faisal had gone to Pakistan along with his two kids by seeking a visa as a special case. His father-in-law had suffered a heart ailment. The family was supposed to return to India in June along with 400 other stranded Indians. The list did not have names of all the family members.
Faisal’s and his sons’ visit visa to Pakistan has expired. His wife’s no-objection return to India visa, which is allowed to Pakistanis living in India for brief visits back, is also no longer valid.
Stranded for 5 months

In Nagpur, Umesh Kewalramani is an Indian citizen and his brother Bunty hold a Pakistani passport. Bunty had gone to Ghotki city in Sindh to meet his father who was not keeping well and remains stranded. Its been five months, says Umesh.
Awaiting return

Another family in Muzzafarnagar, UP, living in India since 2011, had decided to return after falling on bad times. Comprising an aging mother, two daughters and a son, the family preferred not to disclose names. The mother was an Indian who got married to a Pakistani. One of the daughters told TOI that they left Pakistan after their parents had a dispute. “We grew up here. I recently got an LLB degree. I used to give tuitions but it stopped due to Covid. We decided to return and claim my late father’s property and the family pension. He worked in Lahore Municipal Corporation.
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