The boy, Iftikhar Ahmed, was handed over to Pakistan Rangers at Wagah where his mother was waiting for him for several hours.
Lahore: A five-year-old Pakistani boy, who was taken to India on the sly by his father a year ago, was on Saturday reunited with his mother in Pakistan at the Wagah border after the Indian authorities handed him over.
India to hand over 5-year-old Pak boy Iftikhar Ahmed, to cross Wagah border to Pak shortly. Father forcibly took him from mother & came here pic.twitter.com/TVypFWfM0N
— ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017
The boy, Iftikhar Ahmed, was handed over to Pakistan Rangers at Wagah where his mother was waiting for him for several hours.
“I am extremely happy to have my son back. I am thankful to the Pakistani government for its help for return of my child,” Iftikhar’s mother Rohina Kiyani told reporters at Wagah.
“I had lost all hope of getting my child back. It’s not a less than a miracle for me,” she said.
5-year-old Pak boy Iftikhar Ahmed handed over to Pakistani officials at 06:40 pm today pic.twitter.com/Bc9zPz1pRp
— ANI (@ANI_news) February 4, 2017
In March 2016, Iftikhar was taken to India by his father, who is from Jammu. The boy’s mother alleged that her former husband had lied to her that he was taking the child to a wedding along with him as he took him to Dubai and from there to Kashmir.
Rohina with the help of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi filed a case in an Indian court that ruled in May 2016 in her favour.
After the case was taken up by the Pakistani high commission and proven that Iftikhar was a Pakistani by nationality, the verdict was given that he be returned to his mother in Pakistan.
Due to border tensions, it took eight months for the mother to get the good news of seeing her son.