The hands that once hailed Uri resident Shameema Akhtar seem to be looking to deport her to Pakistan as she has become a persona non grata following the April 22 Pahalgam attack.
Akhtar is purportedly among dozens of women from Pakistan married to Kashmiris who are facing deportation in compliance with an order by the Union home ministry that directed all Pakistan nationals to leave the country. They include women from Pakistan and PoK married to former Kashmiri militants who returned over a decade ago under a government rehabilitation scheme.
Akhtar is the mother of Shaurya Chakra awardee Mudassir Ahmad Sheikh, a police constable who died fighting militants in 2022. Akhtar and her husband, Maqsood Ahmad Sheikh, received the Shaurya Chakra on behalf of their deceased son from President Droupadi Murmu in 2023. Union home minister Amit Shah had visited their home in Uri weeks after Mudassir’s death. Authorities have named a town square in Baramulla as Bindass Chowk, using Mudassir’s sobriquet.
There are conflicting reports about Akhtar’s status, with some suggesting she was detained in Uri on Monday evening. Her husband, however, told The Telegraph it was not true. Maqsood acknowledged her name figures in the list of people to be deported, but said he was leaving for Delhi to urge the Centre to grant her an exception.
“We have been married since 1985 (long before militancy started) and are parents to five children, including Mudassir. I am sure we will get reprieve,” he said.
The Baramulla police “categorically denied” the reports of Akhtar’s possible deportation as “false and baseless”. The police urged the public and the media “to refrain from spreading misinformation”.
The decision to deport the Pakistani women, many of whom have allegedly been detained, has sparked panic among their families. On Monday, a group of women protested in Srinagar, urging the government not to ruin their families. They said their husbands had long given up militancy and were living peaceful lives. They said they had children who would suffer in their absence. A woman said they should be allowed to stay or sent in “body bags”.
The detained individuals had earlier been served notices to leave India by the senior superintendent of police, CID special branch, Kashmir, who also holds the charge of the foreigners’ registration officer in the Valley. They, however, stay put despite the lapse of the deadline. Officials said the women were being deported to Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah border.