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Union Home Ministry okays repatriation
GS Paul
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, October 26
Pakistani national Fatima Bibi, her daughter Heena (11) and sister Mumtaz lodged in Amritsar Jail are set to reunite with their family after a span of over a decade.
The documents for their repatriation have been furnished by the Union Home Ministry and they will be allowed to cross over to Pakistan on November 2 through the Attari-Wagah Joint Check Post.
Heena will see her native place for the first time as she was born in the jail in 2006. Her mother Fatima was pregnant when she along with Mumtaz was caught in a drug case.
The 10-year-jail sentence awarded to Fatima and Mumtaj was completed in November 2015, and the fine of Rs 2 lakh each was also furnished. The issue involving Heena’s nationality was resolved lately. Still, their repatriation was put on hold for the want of NoC from the Union Home Ministry.
Local lawyer Navjot Kaur Chabba came to their rescue. Navjot, who also runs Society for Women Empowerment and Green Cause, arranged the penalty amount of Rs 4 lakh through Batala-based NGO Sarbat Da Bhala Humanity Club.
Navjot had also approached PM Narendra Modi to facilitate the Pakistani women’s repatriation as their case was shuttling between the offices of Union Ministry of External Affairs and Home.
“No matter how long it took, I am happy that Heena will see her family for the first time in Pakistan. I am informed by ADGP (Prisons) Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota that all formalities have been completed and they will be repatriated on November 2,” she said.
Fatima belongs to Gujranwala, while her sister Mumtaj, who is unmarried, is a resident of Sikandrabad. On May 8, 2006, they boarded the Samjhauta Express for Muzaffarnagar (UP) to visit their maternal uncles, but were arrested at the Attari Railway Station for possessing drugs.
Though they had argued in the court that the 400-gm smack seized from their compartment belonged to a fellow traveller, the court had pronounced them guilty.
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