LAHORE, Dec 19: After eight years of imprisonment in Jammu and Kashmir, India, Shehnaz Parveen on Friday crossed the Wagah border at 2:45pm (PST).

Accompanying the 33-year-old woman was her eight-year-old daughter, Mobin. It should have been a moment of jubilation for her to reunite with her family after such a long time. But, Shehnaz Parveen’s ordeal was not over yet.

Walking unsteadily through Atari and into the Pakistani territory, Shehnaz kept her eyes downcast. Her little daughter looked dazed, fear mixed with confusion, marking her expression when the mother and daughter were accosted by the local press. There were shouts of Shehnaz, look here! Look at the camera! Are you Shehnaz? Is that your daughter? The photographers rushed around them, clicking maddeningly to get the best shot, caring little about their fragile mental state.

Shehnaz wore a blank look and didn’t know where she was. The only time her eyes fleetingly lit up was when her younger brother, Zulfikar Ali, wracked by uncontrollable sobs embraced her. All the while the little Mobin looked around trying to tug her mother’s chaddar for reassurance, which the mother could not provide under the media’s glare.

At a brief press conference held on the grounds of the Wagah border, she was asked to relate her story. Shehnaz kept on staring at her toes, unable to speak. Were the Indian authorities brutal to you? came the shocking question of a journalist a leading electronic media journalist. Shehnaz tried to form words to answer. Upon failing to do that, she put her palms together pleading the journalist for mercy. Please don’t take me away. Let me go, came her impassioned appeal. She looked around for support, clutching at her brother Zulfikar’s hands. Take me away, Shehnaz said squeakily.

At that moment, Brig Rao Abid Hamid (retired), co-ordinator for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) for Vulnerable Prisoners Project, came to her rescue and rebuked the journalist for asking provocative questions. For a moment the media looked mortified. But Shehnaz Parveen had yet to satisfy the myriad security procedures of the military intelligence. She was led to a room where she and her family awaited clearance. It is like walking away from imprisonment and into another kind of torture. I wish somebody could see how badly shaken the woman is, commented someone.

Shehnaz Parveen underwent a major setback in life when she jumped into the Jhelum River, which flows between the Held and Azad Kashmir. She survived miraculously. What followed thereafter could have been avoided if the two countries’ juvenile policies had allowed it. The young woman’s eight years trauma could not be dismissed as fate. It was created by hatred and drafted by neighbourly venom. And most of all, the imprisonment could have been avoided.

Four months into her marriage, the continual occurrence of domestic abuse by her husband and in-laws, forced Shehnaz Parveen, a resident of Barnala tehsil, Bhimbir district, Azad Kashmir, to commit suicide by jumping into a nearby tributary on Oct 3, 1995. Swept away by the powerful current of the river to the other side of the Line of Control, she was rescued by a patrol party of the Indian Army in the Naushera sub-sector and taken to a nearby hospital. A few days later, Shehnaz was produced before a magistrate and charged under the Control and Maintenance Ordinance. On Nov 12, 1995, she was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment by the Naushera court.

During the serving of her sentence, Shehnaz was allegedly raped by the jail warden, Mohammad Din. A few weeks later, she found herself pregnant with the warden’s child. She was asked by the Indian authorities to abort, but Shehnaz valiantly stood her ground. She had decided to give birth to what she called, Allah’s gift. Mobin was born Oct 6, 1996.

Two years back, in 2001, the Indian authorities tried to deport the mother and child, but the Pakistani authorities at the Wagah did not accept them. Their weak excuse was that as an Indian citizen Mobin could not be allowed through the border. Shehnaz naturally could not think of abandoning her child. She stayed back and was consequently sent to prison once again.

Had it not been for A K Sawhney’s help Shehnaz would not be here today, commented Zulfikar Ali, Shehnaz’ brother. A K Sawhney is a leading human rights activist and advocate in Jammu and Kashmir. He took up Shehnaz Parveen’s case. In an historic verdict, not found in the judicial annals of both the countries, last year the court quashed the case against Shehnaz, recognised Mobin’s natural Indian citizenship and ordered the state to pay Rs300,000 in compensation to Shehnaz. The case against the warden, Mohammad Din is still going on. The court also granted Shehnaz with Mobin’s guardianship.

It was on Sept 16, 2003, that Shehnaz and Mobin were given consular access to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. A constant flow of feedback between Brig Rao Abid Hamid (retired) and A K Sawhney facilitated Shehnaz’s return to Pakistan. Her family has given reassurance that all possible help will be given to Shehnaz and Mobin will be accepted as part of a family. I’m sure the Pakistani authorities will expedite in granting Pakistani citizenship to Mobin, said Rao Hamid. The problem is, how will a society fed on hate and repulsion receive the vulnerable Mobin? Is there any protection against that?— Shehar Bano Khan