The Hindu : IUML leader writes to Advani on Ibrahim's plight

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 07, 2003

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IUML leader writes to Advani on Ibrahim's plight

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 6. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) general secretary and member of Parliament, E. Ahamed, has urged the Union Home Ministry to take a sympathetic view of the case of C. Ibrahim — the Indian-born Pakistani passport-holder now in the custody of Kerala police — and grant him registration of Indian citizenship.

Mr. Ahamed made this plea today in a letter to the Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani. Stating that he knew Mr. Ibrahim and his family well and vouching for the man, he sought Mr. Advani's intervention in securing a sympathetic consideration of the case.

Mr. Ibrahim's application for registration for Indian citizenship under Section 5(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, is under the consideration of the Home Ministry. Also, the Kerala High Court in its July 21 order directed the authorities — both State and Central — to take a decision on Mr. Ibrahim's application within three months.

Still, according to Mr. Ahamed, the State Government — "presumably under the instructions from the Central Government took Mr. Ibrahim to Wagah on the Indo-Pak border for deportation''. But Pakistani officials refused to allow him entry into their territory as he did not have the relevant documents, and he has since been taken back to Kerala where he is in police custody.

This is the second time Mr. Ahamed has written to Mr. Advani vis-a-vis this particular case; the first being in February 2001. The issue was also raised in both houses of Parliament by other Kerala MPs.

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