Pakistani boy with hearing, speech disabilities incarcerated in Indian prison

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani boy with hearing and speech disabilities has been found to be incarcerated in India’s Amritsar district.

According to sources, when the currency and flag of Pakistan were kept before him by the authorities, he recognised them. 

Moreover, through hand gestures the boy tried to communicate to the authorities that he would wave the flag as a child, sources said.

The Indian authorities said the boy was arrested on May 17. The High Commission for Pakistan in New Delhi has contacted the interior ministry of Pakistan and has requested them to find the boy’s parents.

Earlier in November, a woman along with her 11-year-old daughter and sister was freed from Amritsar prison and sent to Pakistan.

According to sources, the two sisters, Fatima and Mumtaz, and their mother Rasheedan Bibi went to India via Samjhota Express in 2006, where they were arrested on charges of smuggling drugs.

The sisters and their mother, residents of Gujranwala in Pakistan, were sent to Amritsar prison, where the latter died after two years.

Fatima, who was pregnant at the time of the arrest, delivered her baby in the jail. The girl named Hina, now 10 years old, has also been sent back.

The women were sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison and fined Rs200,000 each.

Although their jail term ended earlier in the year, they were still behind bars due to non-payment of the fine. However, a non-government organisation working in India filled the last requirement, freeing them from prison.