We thought our marriage would get him Indian citizenship: Pak man’s wife

Sajida’s only respite comes from the fact that Siraj called her at 9.30pm on Tuesday after reaching Lahore

A day after Siraj Khan was deported to Pakistan, despite spending 27 years in India, his wife Sajida Pathan said they had hoped of securing an Indian citizenship for Khan after their marriage.

Siraj Khan with his wife Sajida.

Sajida said, “We thought after marriage Siraj would get an Indian citizenship. We never thought that he would be deported.” Sajida’s only respite comes from the fact that Siraj called her at 9.30pm on Tuesday after reaching Lahore.

“Siraj told me he will get a passport and visa, and return to India at the earliest. And then we’ll try to secure a visa for Pakistan. I was totally dependent on him,” said Sajid, with their three children by her side.

Siraj married Sajida in 2005. They were introduced to each other by her sister-in-law, who was Siraj’s neighbour in Antop Hill. Sajida knew that Siraj is a Pakistani national. The couple has three children — Zara, 12, and 7-year-old twins Inayat and Ejaz. The turmoil in Sajida and Siraj’s life started in 2009, after he sought help from police to secure visa for his family to go to Pakistan. It was here that the cops started verifying his nationality and documents.

The foreigners regional registration office relayed a message to Sajida’s parents to send relevant documents. After they failed to do so, Siraj was booked. In January 2014, he was sentenced to six months in jail. As he had already served two months, Siraj was released in May 2014.

The court had ordered to deport him to Pakistan after Siraj served his imprisonment. The RAK MArg police kept Siraj in the lock-up till November 2014 as there was no detention centre available to keep him there.

In November 2014, the police released Khan briefly to meet his family and return to police station. Siraj never returned. The police registered a fresh complaint against him for escaping from their custody, said Sajida. A year later, Siraj was arrested on December 5, 2017. After being in the lock-up for three months, he was deported to Pakistan on Tuesday.