Hyderabad techie, Madhya Pradesh farmer held in Pakistan for illegal entry

Software engineer aimed to go to Turkey to meet girlfriend

Two Indian nationals, one from Telangana and the other from Madhya Pradesh, were arrested by the Pakistani police for illegally entering the country, authorities have confirmed.

Prashant Maidam, a software engineer from Hyderabad, and Durmi Lal, a farmer from Madhya Pradesh, were arrested in the Cholistan desert area in Bahawalpur, Punjab, last week, the police said.

The Bahawalpur police registered an FIR against them under the Pakistan (Control of Entry) Act on November 14.

They had crossed the border without any identification papers and proper documents, such as a valid visa and passport, said the police.

Sources said Mr. Maidam told them that he was in love with a woman in Turkey and was going there through Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mr. Lal wanted to see the border and crossed over by mistake.

Bahawalpur Judicial Magistrate Yazman asked the local police to travel to Multan and hand over the two Indians to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). Bahawalpur police sources confirmed to The Hindu that the two Indian nationals were thoroughly investigated and were sent back from Multan as the FIA doesn’t think this case falls under its jurisdiction.

The two are now back in the custody of the Bahawalpur police.

“Prashant is lucky he was arrested here. We don’t know what would have happened if he had gone to Afghanistan via Pakistan,” said one police officer.

Police sources said the two will most likely be repatriated after due process is followed. The Indian High Commission will have to get in touch with the police and initiate the process of repatriation.

(Originally published in The Hindu)

Comments

Waqas haider said…
Ur email id plz for some urgent task.
8:50 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Persecution without reason

Universities all over the world tend to hire people with a sound academic background as they want the best for their students. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan did the same when they hired Dr Ghazala Anwar as Deputy Dean of Usul-ud-Din (Islamic jurisprudence) at the women’s campus of International Islamic University (IIU) in Islamabad. Dr Ghazala earned her PhD in philosophy and religious studies from the Temple University (USA) in 1993, with teaching and research interests in Islamic jurisprudence, gender issues, Sufism and sexuality. She was appointed at the IIU under the Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme after her application was reviewed by a Peer Review Committee of scholars. Dr Ghazala Anwar has been part of a movement that has been trying to fight for the just treatment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Intersex and Questioning (LGBTIQ) Muslims. The movement does not preach to others to become homosexuals, but asks Muslims to be tolerant of these “sexual m...
Read more

The myth of September 6, 1965

Every year we Pakistanis celebrate September 6th with a lot of ‘national fervour’ and laud the armed forces for being ‘victorious’ against the Indian forces back in the 1965 war. The state commemorates the ‘Defence Day’ by holding various ceremonies and special programmes. Milli naghmay (patriotic songs) are aired on the local television channels and radio stations, while the newspapers bring out special supplements to mark the day. This is all very well, but I wonder if our people know that in actuality we are not celebrating a victory. Not only did we lose militarily in 1965 – state propaganda aside – but we also lost our national unity in the process. Forty-two years down the road, ours is a country that is on the verge of dismemberment, again. August 1947 gave birth to two independent states, India and Pakistan. It also gave birth to territorial disputes that haunt both South Asian neighbours to date. Kashmir is one of the main disputed territories. The two infant states fought a ...
Read more

Bitter truth

Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza is a loose cannon and, if rubbed the wrong way, will fire away. At the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Dr Mirza was hit by a barrage of complaints by the city’s industrialists and traders for failing to give them adequate protection. Obviously stung by the criticism, he said that “people cast votes for extortionists; they should now talk to their elected representatives for law and order”. Dr Mirza pinned the blame for the deteriorating law and order situation mostly on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). “Dr Imran Farooq was murdered in London, but buses of Pakhtuns were torched in Karachi. Did Asfandyar Wali kill Dr Imran Farooq?” asked Dr Mirza. He went on to allege that when “they [the MQM] want to kill any Pakhtun, Sindhi, Punjabi or Baloch in Karachi, they go about executing their plan methodically”. What Dr Mirza said is politically inappropriate given that the MQM is a coalition partner of the PPP government both at the Cen...
Read more