This is the harrowing tale of a 12 year old child who is an American citizen but is being forced to stay in Pakistan.
KARACHI: I would like to bring to the notice of your readers a harrowing tale. It is of a 12 year old child – an American citizen – who has been in Pakistan for the past 10 years for no fault of her own. The girl’s father has kept the girl’s documents, including passports and social security documents with him in the US and this has prevented the child and her mother from travelling to the US. In other words, not only has he abandoned her, he has restricted her ability to exercise her right to travel to America as an American citizen.
To make matters worse, the child is disabled and handicapped and it is a pity that she has to spend her life in Pakistan when she is an American citizen and could receive excellent medical care and rehabilitation treatment in the US. But she is stuck in Pakistan because her father refuses to send her travel documents to her mother – who lives with the girl in Karachi. Before arriving in Pakistan, the child was receiving quality care at a special education and treatment facility.
The child lives with her maternal grandfather who has tried his best to provide her all the necessary facilities but since resources are limited and because special education facilities are sorely lacking in Pakistan, the child is suffering for no fault of her own.
Who is going to help this 12-year-old girl?
Muhammad Hussain Rajani
Published in The Express Tribune, October 1st, 2010.
