LAHORE: After almost a year of waiting for a thaw in Pakistan-India relations, a woman from Pakistan has finally been reunited with her five-year-old son, who had been taken away deceitfully by his father to occupied Kashmir.

Indian officials handed over the child, Iftikhar, to representatives of the Pakistani High Commission at the Wagah border crossing on Saturday. The Pakistani officials then handed over the boy to his mother, Rohina.

Iftikhar’s father Gulzar, who belongs to India-held Kashmir, after a visit to Pakistan, took the child away on the pretext of taking him to a wedding. He took the boy first to Dubai and from there to Srinagar.

Ms Rohina filed a case in an Indian court to seek custody of her son and the case was pursued by the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. After it was proved that Iftikhar was a Pakistani national, the court issued an order to hand him over to his mother.

The child was to be handed over to his mother in Pakistan in May 2016. But then tension mounted between Pakistan and India over cross-border firing from India and other issues and the mother had to wait for eight months to be reunited with her son.

Talking to reporters at the Wagah border crossing, Ms Rohina thanked the governments of Pakistan and India for helping her regain the custody of her son. She said that her husband had taken the child away after lying to her about attending a wedding. They had, instead, left for Dubai and later went to Srinagar.

Ms Rohina said that she had no objection to her husband’s meeting with their child and she was even ready to live with him (her husband) if he wanted.

Pakistan’s High Commissioner in New Delhi Adul Basit said in a tweet: “We are thankful to Indian authorities for their cooperation in this humanitarian matter.”

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2017