Across the divide: Pakistan thanks India for boy’s homecoming

High Commissioner Abdul Basit thanks New Delhi officials for their cooperation

MUZAFFARABAD: Pakistan has sent a message of thanks to India after a five-year-old boy who was taken to India by his father nearly a year ago was reunited with his Pakistani mother.

Ifthikar Ahmed was handed over to Rohina Kayani by border officials in Wagah on Saturday evening following a long legal battle seeking his return from his father, Gulzar Ahmad Tantray.

Kayani, a resident of the Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, told AFP on Sunday she was overwhelmed with happiness and prepared to forgive her estranged husband, who is from Indian-controlled Kashmir. “I’m extremely happy and unable to express my joy. I pardon my husband and hope he will also join us soon to live with us here in Pakistan,” she told AFP.

“We are thankful to Indian authorities for their cooperation in this humanitarian matter,” Pakistan’s High Commissioner Abdul Basit tweeted.

Kayani thanked High Commissioner Basit and rights worker Ansar Burney for their special efforts in uniting a son to his mother.

She also thanked both governments, and urged them to come together to find a lasting solution to the Kashmir conflict.

“Thousands of people are suffering from grief and sorrow because of this dispute. The Kashmir issue must be solved to end problems of people living on both sides of Kashmir,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2017.