Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. PHOTO: REUTERS
Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday that India is ready to send Ramzan, a stranded boy in her country, to Pakistan.
The Indian minister said on Twitter that her country’s high commissioner also met Ramzan’s mother in Karachi and she was willing to send the boy back if “Pakistan is ready to accept Ramzan”.
In case Pakistan is ready to accept #Ramzan, we will send him back.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) November 7, 2015
Our High Commissioner met #Ramzan's mother in Karachi on 3 Nov. We r prepared to give her Visa to facilitate meeting with her son in Bhopal.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) November 7, 2015
On November 3, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan TCA Raghavan had offered Ramzan’s mother to visit her son in the neighbouring country.
Ramzan’s mother offered to visit India
Sources in the Indian High Commission had told The Express Tribune Raghavan met Razia begum in a hotel in Karachi, asking her to send the passport as the Indian authorities were willing to issue her the visa “any day, any time”.
Born in Karachi, the 15-year-old boy was separated forcibly from his mother in 2008 when his father took him to Bangladesh. Two years later, he crossed the Indian border in a bid to return to his mother back in Karachi.
‘Ammi don’t cry, I will come back soon’
After travelling through different states, and living on the streets, he was detained in Bhopal and handed over to a shelter home run by the Childline trust. In August, Razia came to know about her missing son after her employer narrated a story of a Pakistani boy living in an Indian shelter home. Only last week did she speak to Ramzan after eight long years.
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