ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has asked the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) to verify nationality of a woman languishing in a jail in India-held Kashmir over the past four years so that she could be brought back to the country in case she is a Pakistani.

A spokesperson for the interior ministry said on Sunday that the minister had directed the Nadra chairman to verify documents of Robina and determine whether or not she had Pakistani nationality.

Chaudhry Nisar directed that if the woman was found to be a Pakistani national, arrangements should be made in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for her early repatriation.

He gave a 24-hour deadline to Nadra to verify the nationality of the woman and send a report to him.

According to a media report, Robina, a resident of Hyderabad, has been languishing in a jail in held Kashmir for over four years along with her minor girl.

Indian authorities have presented a report before a court in India-held Kashmir that the woman could not be sent to Pakistan as Pakistani authorities have not verified her nationality.

The report said Robina went to India for her medical treatment along with her husband and four-month-old baby girl in 2012. After sometime her husband betrayed her and left with all the money and passports.

Finding the woman and her minor girl helpless, people gave them money and sent them to the Wagah border crossing but the Pakistani authorities did not allow her to enter the country because of incomplete documents.

Then some people sent her to held Kashmir where she was arrested by security forces in November 2012.

It has been reported that the tragedy could not have come to the fore if a human rights activist and lawyer, Mir Shafqat, would not have visited Kot Bhalwal jail in India-held Kashmir.

The lawyer met the woman in jail in 2014 and since that time he has been making efforts for her repatriation.

In 2014 an Indian court had ordered for her deportation, but Indian authorities informed the court that the Indian foreign ministry had asked the Pakistan High Commission for verification of Robina’s nationality but the commission had so far failed to provide any document in this regard.

Published in Dawn January 2nd, 2017