Nisar orders repatriation of Robina, her daughter

Asks authorities to make arrangements for their repatriation

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has allowed the repatriation of a supposedly Pakistani woman who has been languishing in a jail in the Indian occupied Kashmir (IOK) along with her minor daughter for the past five years.

“The interior minister has finally decided to allow repatriation of Robina and her daughter as a special case taking into consideration difficulties that the woman and the little girl are facing.

“The minister has ordered the concerned authorities to make arrangements for her expeditious repatriation,” said a statement issued by the interior ministry on Saturday.



Robina, a woman in her late twenties, went to New Delhi along with her husband and her four-month-old daughter in 2012. Her husband, however, allegedly betrayed her and disappeared after taking along her passport, identification card and money.

Taking pity on her plight, some people in Delhi contributed money and asked her to go to Wagah border but she was not allowed to cross into Pakistan for want of proper documents. Some people later suggested her to go to Pakistani Kashmir through the IOK. However, she was arrested by Indian security forces at Kanachak area on Nov 6, 2012. She was booked under section 14 of the Foreigners’ Act and sent to jail along with her daughter.

Her case was highlighted by the Indian media and later and an Indian court ordered her repatriation.



Taking notice of media reports, Nisar directed his ministry to contact the High Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi to obtain details about the woman. Both the National Database and Registration Authority and Passport Directorate, however, could not confirm her nationality on the basis of initial details available.

Nisar then directed the high commission to seek consular access to Robina and to get exact details. However, as little progress had been made in the last two months with regard to ascertaining Robina’s identity, the minister on Saturday ordered to allow the mother-daughter duo’s repatriation as a ‘special case’.

Robina’s story would not have shot to the limelight had not the IOK’s human rights lawyer Mir Shafaqat not met her accidently during a visit to Jammu’s Kot Bhalwal Jail in 2014.  Shafaqat fought her deportation case in which he maintained that she was a resident of Musa Colony of Hyderabad district of Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2017.