The Hindu : `Permit me to stay, or hang me'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 05, 2003

Front Page

Front Page

`Permit me to stay, or hang me'

By Our Staff Reporter

— Photo: Ramesh Kurup

Ibrahim, the India-born Pakistan passport holder, who was taken to the Indo-Pak. border for deportation, was brought back to Kozhikode on Monday.

KOZHIKODE AUG. 4. The India-born-Pakistan passport holder, C. Ibrahim, who was taken to the India-Pakistan border on July 30 to be deported, was today brought back to his native place in Vadakara in the Malabar region of Kerala.

Mr. Ibrahim, and the police personnel who had been assigned to deport him, returned by train. The deportation could not take place because he had no documents to prove that he was a citizen of Pakistan. He was produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate's Court in Vadakara this evening. The magistrate directed the police to keep him under custody and produce him again tomorrow.

At the railway station, an emotional Mr. Ibrahim said that he was very much an Indian and that he desired to live in Kerala. "My family is here... My roots are here in Malabar... I am not an agent of the enemy country. Neither am I a spy from Pakistan. Then why are the police harassing me? Permit me to stay in my land, or hang me. This is all I have to request to the Government,'' he said. He said he had been living in India for the past 26 years. He had obtained a Pakistan passport to get a visa and return to his family in India.

As a boy, Mr. Ibrahim , who is now 55, had his education at the Vellikulangara Mapilla School and Madapally Fisheries Technical School in Kozhikode. He set off by ship for the Gulf from Mumbai at the age of 22. But he ended up in Karachi. He spent nine years in Pakistan.

After reaching here, Ibrahim married Nabeesu, an Indian, in Vadakara. Two daughters were born to the couple before the police found out that he did not have valid documents to stay in India. His family members say that Ibrahim's name is on the voters' list and that a ration card has been issued to him.

Petitions were submitted to the authorities with a plea to grant Mr. Ibrahim Indian citizenship. It was stated that he had approached the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, through the local MP and Indian Union Muslim League leader, E. Ahmed. The Ministry of Home Affairs then asked the Collector to look into the matter.

Mr. Ibrahim said that when the issue of his citizenship came up, he fled in 1996 to Ajmer, where he worked as a cook for seven years. He returned on May 24, 2003, and submitted a memorandum to the Collector on May 28. But on June 8 the police arrested him on the charge of overstaying in the country without proper documents. He was forced to spend nearly a month at the Edacherry police station. The Vadakara First Class Judicial Magistrate ordered Mr. Ibrahim's deportation by July 30. He was physically weak and was suffering from urinary tract infection and arthritis.

The Sub-Inspector, A. Abusalem, who along with three constables set out on the mission to deport Mr. Ibrahim at the Wagah border post, said that the Indian emigration authorities there refused to allow Mr. Ibrahim's deportation on the ground that he possessed no valid documents to prove that he was a citizen of Pakistan. "Ibrahim was produced before the officer in charge, the Deputy Superintendent, P. Darshan Singh, on July 30. It was found that he did not possess a Pakistan passport. Neither did he have an emergency emigration certificate issued by the Pakistan Embassy,'' the police officer said.

Mr. Abusalem said that Ibrahim had lost his Pakistan passport. He would not have been allowed to enter Pakistan even if he had produced it because it had expired. "Now he would have to submit a fresh application to the Pakistan Embassy through the State Government if he wanted to go to Pakistan, '' he added.

Official sources here told The Hindu today that there were about 365 foreign nationals staying in the State, of whom 276 were PakistanisMalappuram, Kozhikode and Kannur districts have the most number of such cases. Several of them, in the winter of their lives, have been issued orders for deportation to Pakistan. Some of them have obtained a stay from the Kerala High Court, unlike Ibrahim of Vadakara.

The Union Minister of State for Home, I.D. Swami, during a recent visit to Kerala, had said that the case of such `Pakistani citizens' in Kerala would be considered for grant of Indian citizenship provided the State Government gave a formal request in this regard. But the State Government has not acted on the issue.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

News Update

Stories in this Section

I will quit the day I feel I'm under pressure: PM

`No interference in CBI work'

`Permit me to stay, or hang me'

Parliament clears poll Bill

Hyundai chief kills himself

Bill banning cow slaughter soon

Govt. plans tribunal on Krishna waters

SC rejects author's plea against Sahara TV

'Dawood gang members' acquitted