Jammu and Kashmir High Court Halts Deportation of Police Officer and Siblings

Court Intervention in Deportation Case

On Tuesday, the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir intervened to stop the deportation of a police constable and his eight siblings to Pakistan. This decision came after the family received notices instructing them to leave India following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, as reported by a news agency.

Currently, the whereabouts of the siblings, who were taken to the Attari-Wagah border near Amritsar, remain unclear, according to reports.

Poonch's Senior Superintendent of Police, Shafqat Hussain, expressed concerns regarding their uncertain location.

In response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, the Indian government mandated that all Pakistani nationals in the country depart by April 27 and immediately suspended visa services for Pakistani citizens.

Details of the Deportation Case

On Saturday, the deputy commissioner of Poonch issued a deportation notice to Iftkhar Ali, a 45-year-old constable with 27 years of service in the Jammu and Kashmir Police. His siblings, all residents of Salwah, were also served similar notices.

Following this, the police detained all nine family members and transported them to the border for deportation.

However, they contested the deportation orders in court.

Justice Rahul Bharti instructed that the family should not be compelled to leave the Union Territory and noted that preliminary evidence suggested they were not Pakistani citizens.

The court requested the authorities to present their objections to the petition and scheduled a hearing for May 20.

Family's Claim to Citizenship

The petition filed by Iftkhar Ali and his siblings argued that their father, Faqur Din, was a hereditary state subject according to a permanent resident certificate that was rendered void after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. The petition also stated that Din was an Indian citizen under the 1955 Citizenship Act and that the family owned significant land and property in Salwah.

During the 1965 India-Pakistan war, Pakistan took control of areas along the Line of Control, where Din and his family were settled, leading them to spend years in a camp in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

Din had made numerous appeals to the Pakistani government for assistance in returning to Salwah.

The family eventually returned to their village in the late 1980s or early 1990s, but a previous petition by Din to prevent their removal from Jammu and Kashmir was dismissed by the court.

In 1997, Iftkhar Ali was granted state subject status, with his siblings receiving it in 2000. However, they claimed this status was revoked based on false allegations from relatives related to a property dispute, which is still pending in court.

Impact of the Pahalgam Terror Attack

The Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 resulted in the deaths of 26 individuals and injuries to 17 others. The incident occurred in the Baisaran area of Anantnag district, where militants targeted tourists, primarily from outside the state, after confirming their names to determine their religion. Most of the deceased were Hindu.

By the end of the April 27 deadline, over 537 Pakistani nationals had exited India through the Attari-Wagah border.