Kashmiri child who crossed the border by mistake: "Indian authorities did not respond to repeated calls for release"
An elderly woman from Pakistan-administered Kashmir has appealed to the Pakistani government to release her 14-year-old grandson Asmad Ali from Indian captivity.
Khadija Aslam's grandson Asmad Ali had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) by mistake in his border village of Tetri Note on November 25 last year and was detained by the Indian Army.
He has been in the custody of Indian authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir for two months now and his family has no idea how his child is doing.
Tetri Note is the place from where divided families on both sides of the state of Jammu and Kashmir used to cross and trade has also taken place.
Talking to this correspondent on the telephone, Khadija Aslam was constantly crying remembering her granddaughter.
''The Indian government should release my granddaughter on humanitarian grounds and I appeal to the Pakistani government to release my grandson from Indian captivity and arrange for his return home.We are poor and helpless people and we can do nothing but appeal to the big countries for the release of the child,'' Fifty-five-year-old Khadija Aslam said.
He said he had three sons and five daughters, of whom Asmad's mother had died. Asmad Ali's father Mohammad Banaras works as a guard in a security company in Lahore who got remarried after the death of Asmad's mother and now resides in Lahore.
Khadija Aslam said, "I have not been able to eat or sleep for the last two months. He was three months old when his mother passed away, after which I raised him with the help of the Lord with great diligence, I remember his moment. '
According to Khadija Aslam, on Thursday, November 25, 2021, her grandson Asmad Ali put me in a carry box to take me to his aunt's house in the vicinity of Tetri Note. Bring it too
He said, ''After that, Asmad returned and I went out to my daughter and returned home in the afternoon''.
Khadija Aslam says that on her return home, she found out that Asmad had not returned home.
''We waited until the west, maybe he went to play with the children, he will come back, but when he did not return till the west, our anxiety increased and his grandfather reunited with his relatives.'' He started looking for Kar Asmad.
Asmad Ali's 65-year-old grandfather Muhammad Aslam said he searched for his grandson everywhere in the village but found no trace of him.
According to him, Pakistan Army officials stationed at the local level informed him at 8 pm that Asmad had crossed the LOC by mistake.
Mohammad Aslam said that the Indian Army had informed the Pakistani Army about the arrest of Asmad on the hotline, on the basis of which the local police and military officials met him the next day and got information.
Khawar Ali Shaukat, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Rawalpindi District, said that an FIR has been registered for the disappearance of 14-year-old Asmad who had crossed the LOC by mistake.
He said that as soon as the information was received on November 25, the concerned authorities were informed. They contacted the Indian authorities on the hotline and confirmed the arrest of the child and asked for his return but several contacts were made. Despite this, the Indian authorities did not respond.
Mohammad Aslam said that "Asmad's daily routine was to play with the children in the nearby ground which is situated on the banks of the river Poonch and is 100 yards away from the Indian Army outpost."
Muhammad Aslam said there are many other wild birds in the area, including partridges, while Asmad was fond of keeping partridges, pigeons, chickens and other birds at home.
He said it appeared that Asmad had mistakenly crossed the LOC to catch a partridge or any other bird and was captured by the Indian Army.
''The Indian Post is so close to this point that if anyone goes to the desert near the LOC, no return is possible.''
He appealed to the Indian authorities, saying that his grandson, Masoom, who was a deserving, hardworking ninth-grade student, would lose his academic year, while his grandmother and other family members You will go mad in remembrance, so please release Asmad on the basis of human sympathy.
Mohammad Aslam says that Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, the Prime Minister of the region, has been elected from this constituency from the village where he belongs. Have been contacted more than once.
"Initially, local police and military officials contacted us and gathered information and assured us of Asmad's return, but two months later, my Asmad did not return," he said.
The Prime Minister of the region, Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, has said that he is in touch with the concerned authorities, including the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, regarding Asmad and all others who crossed the LoC by mistake.
He said efforts were being made to secure his release.
On the other hand, in the Tetri note, Khadija Aslam says that she can only appeal to both the countries.
Khadija Aslam said, "In the beginning, all the officers kept consoling me. Now no one comes to see us, nor does it tell us what has happened so far."
"We are poor and helpless people. There is no babu or officer in our house. If that were the case, when would we get our destiny back? We don't even know how to talk to anyone properly."