pmaitra
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Muhammad Idrees: Abandoned by India and Pakistan
Source: BBC News - Muhammad Idrees: Abandoned by India and Pakistan
In 1999, Mr Idrees left his wife and four young sons in Pakistan's port city of Karachi to attend to his sick father in the Indian city of Kanpur. He was born in India, and had moved to Pakistan and become its citizen after he married a cousin in Karachi.
His father died soon after he reached Kanpur. In the chaos and grief that followed this personal loss, Mr Idrees overstayed for three days and his visa ran out.
So did his luck.
When he went to the authorities in Kanpur to seek a visa extension, they suspected him of spying for Pakistan and put him behind the bars. It took 10 years for a court to exonerate him of the charge, fine him 500 rupees ($9.17; £5.68) for overstaying and order his repatriation.
Justice delayed is justice denied, and in the case of Mr Idrees, even justice delivered did not turn out to be liberating.
By Rupa Jha, BBC NewsFor 13 years in all, he has been trying to return home without success.
According to India's Ministry of External Affairs, Mr Idrees travelled to India on a Pakistani passport (number G057703), issued in Karachi, on 10 May 1999. To add to his woes, his passport expired in 2003.
But Pakistan denies he is a citizen, and believes he has separated from his wife and has been disowned by his family.
"Our interior ministry told us that he's not a Pakistani citizen. To our knowledge he's separated from his wife and his in-laws. They disown him. We have communicated this to Indian authorities," Manzoor Ali Memon, spokesperson of Pakistan's High Commission in India, told me.
Source: BBC News - Muhammad Idrees: Abandoned by India and Pakistan