Pakistan boy awaits his release after fisherman father freed

AHMEDABAD: It was a tearful parting between a Pakistani father and son in Jamnagar on Eid in July. The fisherman father was being released and sent back to Pakistan, but his son's release orders hadn't come. And while this drama was playing out in Gujarat, the Bollywood film 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan', which is based on a similar theme, was being hailed in both the countries.

Sixteen-year-old Ghulam Hussain is still waiting for a Bajrangi Bhaijaan to escort him back home. Residents of Thatta near Karachi, Ghulam and his father Jumman Jero were among 33 fishermen caught by the coast guard in Indian waters in March 2014. They were brought to Dwarka and then transferred to Jamnagar. While Jero and other fishermen were kept in Jamnagar jail, Ghulam was sent to a juvenile home a few miles away.

All along the way from Jamnagar to Wagah in mid-July, Jero had pleaded that he be allowed to stay back in India since his son's name did not figure in the list of 88 Pakistani fishermen who were being released on Eid as a goodwill gesture and in exchange for 163 Indian fishermen held in Pakistani jails.

Ghulam was not allowed to return with his father since the Indian authorities did not get an official confirmation about the teenager's nationality.

Dwarka police recently wrote to the Gujarat government about Ghulam's predicament. "As per procedure, we sent the father-son duo for consular access so their identity could be established," said Jagdish Patel, superintendent of police, Devbhoomi Dwarka. "Due to some reasons, the father got a confirmation and the son didn't."

Ghulam sorely misses his family — he has four siblings — and mostly sits alone brooding. He doesn't mix with other children. Having studied in Urdu medium till Class V, he can't figure out what's being taught in the Gujarati medium school at the juvenile centre.

"We have written to the Indian external affairs ministry and Pakistan's interior ministry to facilitate Ghulam's return," Ansar Burney, former federal minister for human rights in Pakistan, told TOI over the phone. "We have urged the Pakistan government to furnish the necessary details about the boy's nationality."