E-Paper
MP: Ramzan in despair after no word on Karachi return
Even one month after the visit of a senior diplomat of Pakistan high commission to Bhopal, there is no message for Ramzan, the boy from the neighbouring country who is presently staying in a shelter home here.
Even one month after the visit of a senior diplomat of Pakistan high commission to Bhopal, there is no message for Ramzan, the boy from the neighbouring country who is presently staying in a shelter home here.
Ramzan has stopped talking to people in the home. The shelter home care taker said Ramzan, who was excited when people were visiting the shelter home Umeed — run by an NGO Aarmabh in Bhopal — to send him to his mother in Karachi, has undergone depression.
Unlike other inmates, he is not excited about the New Year 2016 celebration.
Ramzan said, “I had packed my bag to return to Karachi but nothing happened. No one has any answer to my question as to when will I go to Pakistan. I want to celebrate new year with my mother but now I don’t have any hope.”
He said, “External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and the first secretary (VISA) in political and administrative wing of Pakistan high commission, Khadim Hussain met but still I didn’t reach Pakistan. When Geeta didi can come back to India why I can’t go to Pakistan.”
Reacting on delay on repatriation process of Ramzan, human rights activist Ansar Burney has sent a request letter to President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and adviser, ministry of foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz.
In the letter, Burney said, “Unlike India who claimed and took away Geeta without even confirmation of her Indian nationality or finding her biological parents, the unexplained and implausible delay on part of our government to claim its own national, who is a confirmed citizen of Pakistan by virtue of documentary evidence produced by Ansar Burney Trust in this regard, and in presence of the statutory law - the Pakistan Citizenship Act 1951, which clearly substantiates and authenticate the citizenship of minor boy Ramzan and his family as their right by birth. Due to such inordinate delay the matter has been ridiculed and the image of Pakistan has been humiliated in the eyes of the world at large, therefore, I requested the government of Pakistan to cooperate with Ansar Burney Trust in bringing the stranded boy from India back to his homeland, without further delay.”
Aarambh director Archana Sahay said she didn’t receive any information regarding Ramzan’s reunion with his family in Karachi and it was getting hard for the boy to stay here.
“We are waiting for any development in the process of his repatriation. Meanwhile, the behaviour of Ramzan is changing. He is not talking to anyone. For the past few days, he didn’t interact with inmates. Whenever his mother calls him, he replies only in yes or no. We are very worried about him,” she added.
