Scolded by father, boy from Poonch dist crosses LoC

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 30

A 15-year-old boy from Poonch district has crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and entered Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The incident came to light after the boy called up his family in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district on April 27 night from PoK.

The boy had been reprimanded by his father after he had allegedly stolen a mobile phone from a shop in his village. The boy has been identified as Zulfqar Ali, a resident of Lanjiote village in Poonch.

“We have registered an FIR under Section 2/3 of EIMCO (Egress and Internal Movement Control Ordinance) at the Mendhar police station and started investigation,” said Shahid Nayeem, Sub-Divisional Police Officer of the Mendhar police station.

“The boy, a student of Class VIII of a government school in Lanjiote, had allegedly stolen a cellphone from a shop and sold it. Fearing the wrath of his father and the shop owner, the boy crossed the LoC and entered PoK,” said a local.

Zulfqar’s family had put his picture and particulars on social networking sites and to their utter shock, the boy called them on April 27 night from a place in PoK via Saudi Arabia, he added.

The family has now approached the police for help, he said. The Mendhar SDPO said though the boy appeared to be in PoK, they did not exactly know his whereabouts.

Poonch SSPJS Johar said the boy had called up his family via Saudi Arabia and the police had taken cognisance of the incident.

Official sources said the Pakistan army was likely to repatriate him tomorrow.