A tragic separation unfolded at the India-Pakistan border recently, where a mother was forced to leave behind her nine-month-old breastfeeding child due to passport restrictions.
Saira, a woman from Karachi, arrived at the Attari-Wagah border with her Indian husband Farhan and their infant son Azlan after the Indian government ordered all Pakistani nationals to leave within 24 hours following a recent attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir. While Saira held a Pakistani passport, Azlan had an Indian one. Indian border security forces refused to let the child leave with his mother.
Saira and Farhan met three years ago on Facebook, eventually marrying and settling in Delhi. “My life, my world—everything changed,” Farhan said, recalling their journey.
At the border, Farhan tried to comfort Azlan with a toy bottle, but the child only sought his mother’s touch. “Children like ours are trapped between two nations,” said Farhan’s sister, Nureen. “Only a mother knows the pain of leaving behind a nursing child.”
At one point, the border guards gave hope of a compassionate decision, but after an hour, Farhan returned in tears, carrying a restless Azlan. Saira had fainted before crossing and was later given a final brief moment with her family before parting.
This is not an isolated incident. Halima Begum, another Pakistani woman who married in Odisha 25 years ago, was also ordered to leave. Her husband is deceased, and her two sons, both Indian citizens, were not allowed to accompany her. “My mother has never traveled alone,” said her son Musayib. “Where will she go now?”
Standing at the border, Halima wept, “If I’m forced out like this after 25 years, is this country not mine?”
Such emotional stories are common in the subcontinent, especially for Pakistani or Indian Muslim women who marry across borders. “For them, the border always brings uncertainty,” says Midnight’s Borders author Suchitra Vijayan.
Due to the recent conflict, about 750 Pakistanis and 1,000 Indians have been sent back to their respective countries, including elderly patients, wedding guests, and women visiting family after decades.
Caught between political tensions of two nuclear-armed nations, families like these are losing love, marriage, and motherhood to a border—while innocent children suffer the most, having no nation of their own, only the love of their parents.
Source: Al Jazeera