Jammu and Kashmir High Court Halts Deportation of Policeman and Siblings:

Suspense crime, Digital Desk : The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has put on hold the expulsion order for a local policeman, Iftkhar Ali, along with eight siblings, five of whom are sisters. The court has accepted that they seem to be authentic citizens of Jammu and Kashmir.

After being first taken to the Attari border in Punjab for deportation, the family is now heading back to their house situated in Salwah village, Poonch district.

Background: The Reason Behind Issuing the Deportation Notices
These nine people were part of a larger set which included a sizeable number of people from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. They were served deportation notices following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that left 26 dead.

After that incident, the policy was that all Pakistani citizens without long standing or diplomatic visas needed to exit the country. The police had received instructions from higher authorities and in compliance with this, they arrested the family on Monday night and took them to the Attari border.

Legal and Citizenship Claim
Iftkhar Ali who works at the Vaishno Devi shrine base camp is currently serving there, and has worked with the Jammu and Kashmir Police for 27 years now. His siblings went on to state that their deceased father: Faqur Din had a permanent resident certificate meaning he was an Indian citizen under the Citizenship Act of ‘55. They also claimed that he possessed land alongside a house situated in Salwah.

The hearings court asked for these family matters so that the family residence of the Union Territory could be validated.

Court Interim Orders and Relief

As Justice Rahul Bharti has ruled, let’s make sure that the petitioners are not deported till any further notice. The clear instructions came with a ‘counter arguments’ clause. The judge accepted the petition and requested detailed status report from the government counsel latest by May 20.

It was also ordered to the Poonch Deputy Commissioner that he submits an affidavit to prove the family’s existing property records in the region.

Current Status and Reactions

Activist Chowdhary from the socio-political wing confirmed that the family came out after the court ordered them to be released. Chowdhary, who was protesting with Ali’s wife and kids, heavily criticized the authority for keeping quite on the direction of the court.

Shafqat Hussain, the Poonch SSP commented afterwards that there had been ‘uncertainty about their whereabouts” to which the panel decided to ignore the set directions from the panel.