Five pilgrims accused of violating foreigners act. PHOTO: AFP
LAHORE: A five-member Indian Sikh family missing for a month in Pakistan has been booked for violating the foreigners act, as the authorities claim they have gone into hiding.
The family, which arrived in Pakistan to attend a religious festival between April 11 and April 20, was reported missing when all the other pilgrims reached Wagah for their return to India.
Although the investigators have no clue to the family’s whereabouts or from where and how they went missing, they have registered the case, believing the family has gone missing deliberately.
Tibbi City police registered the FIR (130/15) under Section 14 of Foreigners Act 1946, which carries punishment of up to a three-year jail term.
Complainant Azhar Abbas, an official of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) and caretaker of Gurdwara Dera Sahib, alleged the Indian family had gone into hiding after reaching Pakistan to celebrate Mela Besakhi.
From India, 1,717 Sikhs had arrived at the Wagah railway station in Lahore on April 11. The ETPB kept their passports in custody in return for providing them food, accommodation and other facilities during their stay.
When the Sikh pilgrims were to go back to India on April 20, 38-year-old Sunil Singh, his 27-year-old wife Sunita, their nine-year-old daughter Huma Kaur and 10-year-old son Umer Singh and an elderly woman Mahindar Kaur did not reach Wagah.
Abbas claimed the family went into hiding, and should be traced out and legal action taken against them.
After arriving in Pakistan on April 11, the Sikh pilgrims went to Gurdawara Panja Sahib in Hassan Abdal. They stayed there for a religious ritual and then went to Nankana Sahib on April 14. After spending one night there, they visited Gurdwara Sacha Soda in Sheikhupura on April 16. On April 17, the pilgrims reached Gurdwara Dera Sahib and participated in their rituals at Lahore Fort on April 18. The next day, they visited Gurdwara Rohri Sahib in Aimanabad and Gurdwara Kirtarpur in Narowal and stayed there for one night before returning to Wagah Border on April 20.
Talking to The Express Tribune, the complainant said the ETPB came to know about the “hiding” of the five members only at Wagah.
Investigation Officer SI Muhammad Tufail said the police did not know from where these five visitors went missing. He said he had visited Hassan Abdal to glean information about them but to no avail.
Sayed Faraz Abbas, ETPB’s deputy secretary for shrines, claimed only four were confirmed missing as one of them, Mahinder Kaur, had never come to Pakistan as she was not given a visa.
He also believed the family, residents of Faridkot, had gone into hiding intentionally.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2015.
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