Passport issue: Pakistani woman and child held in India    

-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL

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A Pakistani woman is in trouble after giving birth in India. When she came to India she was alone but as time passed by she  bore a child in India but she did not make a passport for the child. Now she faces troubles form immigration authorities in India, while trying to get back to her country.

The Indian authorities stopped a couple from travelling back to Pakistan because of incomplete documents after the birth of their child in India.

The Pakistani woman had come to India she was seven months pregnant and on April 14 she delivered a baby boy at a private hospital. While bearing the child and delivering, perhaps she did not know that her India born child also requires a passport to leave India.

A 35-year-old woman from Pakistan Mai Fathima has got entangled in a document row after giving birth in India. Mai Fathima and 10-day-old son were held back at Munabao in Barmer district of Rajasthan by immigration officers as the child does not have a passport or visa.

Mai Fatima and her husband Mir Muhammad Mahar who are residents of Ghotki in Pakistan had come here two-and-a-half months back to meet Fatima's aging father.

When the couple along with the newborn left for Pakistan on Friday on the Thar Express they were stopped at Munabao. The immigration officers instructing them to either go back to Pakistan leaving the child behind or stay back and complete documentation of their baby.

Their visa was originally for one-and-a-half months but was later extended by another month when Fatima's father suddenly passed away.

Fatima had come to India she was seven months pregnant and on April 14 she delivered a baby boy at a private hospital.

Mahar rushed to the Pakistani high commission in New Delhi with Fatima's passport and a photograph of the newborn to get the required papers for the child to cross over to Pakistan. The mother and son till then will have to stay put in Jodhpur.

The local municipal council had issued a birth certificate in the name of Sohail Khan. Municipal council sources confirmed the issuance of the birth certificate and corroborated the names and dates too. A doctor at the hospital said Fatima was in deep labour when she was brought and had almost delivered in the vehicle.

Officials say that now the couple will have to get their visa extended for travelling to Delhi where they will have to call on the Pakistani high commissioner to issue necessary documents for the child to travel "home".

Obviously, they have decided to not to leac ve their child behind, and want to complete the travel document requirements