Amid
the ongoing deportation of Pakistani nationals living in India, following the
Pahalgam terror attack, relief comes for a family of six, whose deportation to
Pakistan has been stayed by the Supreme Court on Friday.
Ahmed
Tariq Butt, an Accenture employee filed a plea on behalf of his family members
who reside in Kashmir. Butt, in his plea, claimed that his family has been asked
to leave India, alleging that his family overstayed their visa, news agency PTI
reported. Butt, however, submitted that he holds an Indian passport and an
Aadhaar card.
The
apex court directed the authorities not to take any ‘coercive action’ till an
order on the verification of their identity documents. A two-bench judge of
Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh noted that there is ‘human angle’ to
the issue.
The
court also asked Butt’s family to approach the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in
case they are aggrieved by the document verification order.
This
comes as tensions escalate between the two countries, and all Pakistani
nationals’ visas were cancelled.
Butt, an MBA graduate from IIM Kozhikode was asked
how he and his family came to India during a hearing earlier today. Born in
Pakistan’s Mirpur, he came to India with his father in 1997. Upon reaching
Srinagar, he surrendered his Pakistani passport to the Jammu and Kashmir High
Court.
Remaining members of Butt’s family entered India in
the year 2000, each of whom surrendered their Pakistani passports as well and
applied for Indian citizenship.
On April 22, 26 civilians, mostly tourists, were killed by terrorists at
Pahalgam’s Baisaran Valley. Following the attack, both the Indian and Pakistani
governments announced measures as diplomatic ties were downgraded. Apart from
suspending crucial agreements like the Indus Waters Treaty and the Simla
agreement, the Centre also ordered Pakistani nationals living in India to leave
as their visas under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) were cancelled.