Mother, her 4-yr-old daughter among 3 prisoners repatriated to Pak via Wagah

For, three Pakistani prisoners – Sameera Abdul Rehman, 28, her four-year-old daughter, Murtaza Ajhar Ali, 50, and Ahmed Raja, 28, who had completed their sentences in various jails for illegally entering India, were repatriated to Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah border

AMRITSAR : Born in jail to a mother serving sentence, a four-year-old chirpy girl always yearned for a normal childhood, despite her mother telling her that prison is the new normal for them.

Sameera was lodged in a Bengaluru prison, while Murtaja and Ahmed were in Haryana and Punjab jails, respectively.

On Saturday, the girl’s wish to know what it was like to see the outside world for the first time came true.

For, three Pakistani prisoners – Sameera Abdul Rehman, 28, her four-year-old daughter, Murtaza Ajhar Ali, 50, and Ahmed Raja, 28, who had completed their sentences in various jails for illegally entering India, were repatriated to Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah border.

Sameera was lodged in a Bengaluru prison, while Murtaja and Ahmed were in Haryana and Punjab jails, respectively.

According to information, 28-year-old Sameera, who had illegally crossed over to India to be with her Indian lover five years ago, gave birth to a baby girl in a Bengaluru prison in October 2017, around five months after her arrest.

Sameera, her estranged husband Mohammed Shihab, a native of Kerala whom she met and fell in love with while in Doha, Qatar, and a Pakistani couple-- Kasiff Shamsuddin and Kiran Ghulam Ali -- were arrested by the Bengaluru crime branch in May 2017 following a tip-off that Shihab was trying to arrange fake Indian citizenship documents, including an Aadhaar card, for Sameera alias Najma and the Pakistani couple.

While the Bengaluru police deported Kasiff and his wife Kiran, both aged 30, to Pakistan in 2018 after the couple admitted before a court that they arrived in India through an illegal route (along with Sameera) after their families in Pakistan objected to their relationship, Sameera remained in India following a barrage of questions regarding the citizenship of the child born to her and Shihab, according to some media reports.

Sameera was sentenced to three-year imprisonment by a local court. Her sentence was completed in July 2021 and she had been awaiting her deportation ever since.

Sameera’s family was opposed to her relationship and forcibly took her away from Qatar to Pakistan, from where she left for India to unite with Shihab. Later, Sameera and Shihab separated.

Sameera’s daughter was born in prison with a congenital heart defect, sources said, adding that it was the child’s medical condition that enabled Sameera to obtain bail in 2020.

Before going back to Pakistan, Sameera thanked the Government of India and Pakistan for her release. She also demanded that Indian and Pakistan prisoners who have been languishing in various jails of both countries, despite completing their sentences, should be released in a time-bound manner.

Similarly, Murtaja Ajgar Ali was arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) from the Ambala Cantonment railway station in August 2019 when he was travelling in the Golden Temple Mail train which was on the way from Mumbai to Amritsar. He was arrested allegedly for spying charges. He was released by an Ambala court last year. Murtaja had come to India around three years ago on a visitor visa to meet his mentor in Mumbai.

According to Punjab Police’s protocol officer at the Attari border, Arun Pal, Ahmad Raja was arrested in Naushehra village of Amritsar around three years ago while roaming along the India-Pakistan border. He had been lodged in Amritsar Central jail.

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Trail of scars and the life in prison

Twentyeight-year-old Sameera, who had illegally crossed over to India to be with her Indian lover five years ago, gave birth to a baby girl in a Bengaluru prison in October 2017, around five months after her arrest

Murtaja, 50, had come to India around three years ago on a visitor visa to meet his mentor in Mumbai

Ahmed, 28, was arrested in Naushehra village of Amritsar around three years ago while roaming along the India-Pakistan border