SRINAGAR: J&K high court halted on Wednesday the deportation of a police head constable and his eight siblings to Pakistan, ruling they are prima facie residents of the UT. The family, sent to Attari border in Punjab, is now returning home in Jammu's Poonch district .
Officials had issued deportation notices on April 26 to head constable Ifthkar Ali , 45, and his five sisters and four brothers, claiming they were Pakistani nationals. The next day, police summoned them to a local station before sending them to Attari. Their removal was part of a broader govt crackdown following the Pahalgam attack on April 22.
Ali, who has been with J&K police for over 26 years, challenged the deportation in court. He presented revenue documents proving his family owns land in Salwah, a village along the LoC.
"Revenue documents are taken on record... prima facie establish that petitioners are bona fide residents of J&K belonging to Poonch," the court said, directing the authorities to stop the deportation.
Safeer Choudhary, an activist who protested against the deportation, said Ali's father Fakar Din was originally from Salwah village. During the 1965 war, half the village was taken over by Pakistan, forcing Din and his wife Fatima Bi to end up in POK. They lived in a refugee camp, where three of their children joined them and six more, including Ali, were born.
The family returned to Poonch in the 1980s, where authorities recognised them as residents of J&K. Choudhary said govt issued them all necessary documentation, including passports, domicile certificates, and other official papers. "The Poonch administration could have avoided this situation," Choudhary said. "Besides, how can you deport a person from one region of a country to another as PoK is constitutionally a part of India?"
Officials had issued deportation notices on April 26 to head constable Ifthkar Ali , 45, and his five sisters and four brothers, claiming they were Pakistani nationals. The next day, police summoned them to a local station before sending them to Attari. Their removal was part of a broader govt crackdown following the Pahalgam attack on April 22.
Ali, who has been with J&K police for over 26 years, challenged the deportation in court. He presented revenue documents proving his family owns land in Salwah, a village along the LoC.
"Revenue documents are taken on record... prima facie establish that petitioners are bona fide residents of J&K belonging to Poonch," the court said, directing the authorities to stop the deportation.
Safeer Choudhary, an activist who protested against the deportation, said Ali's father Fakar Din was originally from Salwah village. During the 1965 war, half the village was taken over by Pakistan, forcing Din and his wife Fatima Bi to end up in POK. They lived in a refugee camp, where three of their children joined them and six more, including Ali, were born.
The family returned to Poonch in the 1980s, where authorities recognised them as residents of J&K. Choudhary said govt issued them all necessary documentation, including passports, domicile certificates, and other official papers. "The Poonch administration could have avoided this situation," Choudhary said. "Besides, how can you deport a person from one region of a country to another as PoK is constitutionally a part of India?"
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