Amritsar, November 3: After 11 long years, two Pakistani sisters, Fatima and Mumtaz, along with Fatima’s India-born daughter Heena, left for Pakistan via the Attari border this afternoon.
The sisters were arrested at the Attari railway station in 2006 for carrying drugs. They were released from the Amritsar jail in the morning. Fatima and Mumtaz, along with mother Rashida Bibi, were arrested on May 8, 2006, while they were on their way to Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh to meet their maternal uncles.
The three women were sentenced to 10 years and fined Rs 4 lakh. Fatima, who was pregnant then, gave birth to Heena in jail the same year. Rashida Bibi died of ill-health in 2008.
Local lawyer Navjot Kaur Chhaba fought a legal battle on their behalf. She even approached the PMO in September this year. Despite having completed the sentence in November 2015, the three had to stay put in the jail transit camp as they were unable to pay the hefty fine imposed by the courts.
Chhaba arranged the money through Batala-based NGO, Sarbat Da Bhala Humanity Club, on April 7 this year. Despite that, it took seven months for the Union Home and External Affairs Ministries to clear their release.
Pakistan High Commission counsellor Fauzia Manzoor visited Amritsar in August this year and conferred Pakistani nationality on Heena.
Sourced from The Tribune
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