NEW DELHI, Sept 27: Just when the focus was shifting to business and trade volumes with a generous visa regime to assist the more privileged travellers, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has spurred the country’s mission in New Delhi to act on a very old human problem — people not knowing where the India-Pakistan boundary begins or ends which finds them straying into a virtual nightmare ever so often.

For the first time the HRCP has directly approached the High Commission in India to help repatriate a 13-year-old boy from Okara district.

A press statement by the mission’s spokesman on Thursday said it was making “special arrangements” to help Master Kashif Ali return home.

“Pakistan High Commission, New Delhi, is in contact with Indian Ministry of External Affairs to arrange urgent repatriation of Master Kashif Ali, presently lodged at Child Development Project Observatory, Farid Kot in Indian Punjab,” Press Attache Manzoor Ali Memon said.

“The mission is making special arrangements in this regard,” he added.

The case was brought to the notice of the mission on Wednesday by the HRCP, Mr Memon said, emphasising that the boy had inadvertently crossed into India.

As soon as the Indian government issues him the exit visa, a Pakistani official will escort him to the border.

The story is not dissimilar to the countless incidents at sea where fishermen from both countries end up in jails on either side of the imaginary maritime boundary.