It was a harrowing time for the family of an Indian journalist based in Pakistan while returning home as they found cash and jewellery missing after Pakistani security officials searched their belongings at the Attari border. Ear rings and several pieces of jewellery, besides Rs 10,000 in cash were missing after their luggage was opened by the officials before they embarked on the Lahore-Delhi bus last Monday, the family complained.
The family was also forced to part with a bottle of sunscreen lotion.
But their travails did not end after crossing the border with Indian immigration officials questioning them for over an hour.
Giving a first-hand account of her ordeal, Ms Lamat R. Hasan, wife of PTI’s Islamabad correspondent Rezaul H Laskar, said, “I was excited about crossing the Indo-Pak border using the land route for the first time until I stepped into the immigration office at Attari at about 8 am on May 17.” At Attari, an officer on seeing her passport curtly told her that she is not allowed to use the land route to cross the border.
To use the land route, Indian journalists are required to have a mention of the point of entry in their visas or else they have to take special permission from officials concerned. “I had always flown to Pakistan and this was the first time that I was using the land route. I told the officer that my visa does not entitle me to cross the Wagah border on foot, but I am permitted to take the bus,” Ms Lamat said.
She said she was not allowed to use the telephone. When she told them that she would like to inform the PTI office that she was stuck at the border, the officer said, “Don’t impress me with your press credentials.”
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Ex-BSF man: Canada mission letter disturbing
Asit Jolly
Chandigarh
Dejected at not being allowed to join his daughter and other relatives in Edmonton, Canada, former BSF head constable Fateh Singh Pandher remained quiet regarding the high commission’s letter which he received in early December. But a copy he had forwarded to BSF HQ has now surfaced in New Delhi.
Confirming every disparaging word in the communication, the 60-year-old former paramilitary soldier said, “The contents are all the more painful and disturbing because they seek to cast completely false aspersions on the BSF and the Indian government.”
According to him, the official Canadian position was apparent even during his interview with high commission officials in April last year. “It was just short of being actually treated like a dangerous criminal. They accused me of being a member of the BSF in a way that sounded as if I had committed some sin. Even in the interview in April 2009 I was asked strange questions about the BSF and its working as if I was being interrogated for being a spy,” he said indignantly.