New Delhi: The Supreme Court has granted interim relief to a family facing deportation to Pakistan, after hearing a petition that all members hold valid Indian passports, Aadhar cards and Election Photo Identity Cards or EPICs.
The Court directed Ahmed Tariq Butt to approach appropriate authorities with all documents. In case he is not satisfied with the outcome of the scrutiny, he may move the High Court of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
Butt, presently based in Bengaluru was born in Mirpur, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and moved to India in 1997.
“We are a total of six members in the same family. Two brothers work in Bengaluru. Our parents, sister, and another brother live in Srinagar,” the petitioner submitted.
Butt’s father hails from Mirpur, while his mother was born in Srinagar. Though Butt lived in Mirpur until 1997, his place of birth in his Indian passport is mentioned as Srinagar. After entering India in 1997, Butt moved to Srinagar. After living in the Kashmir Valley for several years, he obtained a management degree from IIM Kozhikode and currently works in an IT firm in Bengaluru.
Butt said in his application that he and his family possess Indian passports and Aadhaar cards. His family includes his sister Ayesha Tariq and brothers Abubakar Tariq and Umar Tariq Butt.
According to the petition, the Foreigners’ Regional Officer (FRO) wrongly claimed that the family had entered India in 1997 on Indian visas and were required to leave after their visas expired. The petitioner denied this, saying they were never Pakistani nationals and had never entered India on a visa.
Butt argued that his family is now detained at the Attari-Wagah border despite being Indian citizens.
Incidents such as these have come to light after India ordered Pakistani nationals, except those with diplomatic or long-term visas, to leave India in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror strike in Jammu and Kashmir that left 26 persons, most of them tourists, dead.
