Lost Pakistani man returns home after living in India for 27 years

Siraj Khan, a 37-year-old Pakistani who had been illegally staying in India since he was 10 years old, has finally returned home after 27 years, after he was deported by the Indian authorities on Monday.

Senior Inspector Rafi Ahmed at Kidwai Marg police station Bhagawat Bansod said, “Since all the cases against Khan were disposed of by the court and one case of violation of a detention order was withdrawn by the government, he was deported to Pakistan on March 12,” quoted Press Trust of India (PTI).

Khan had lived in Antop Hill in Mumbai for 27 years and married Sajida, an Indian woman in 2005. The couple has three children together.

Once all the legal formalities were completed, Khan was escorted to the Attari border in Punjab, from where he was exiled. According to an official, the Indian government had notified Sajida and the Pakistani authorities about Khan’s deportation.

Siraj apparently fled his home in Pakistan when he was just 10 years old, fearing that he would be scolded by his father for failing in an exam. He took the wrong train and reached Amritsar. After being released from a children’s shelter at 18, he moved to Mumbai.

In 2009, the Pakistani national was listed as an illegal immigrant of India and was sentenced to seven months in jail after he was convicted under the Foreigners Act 1946. In 2014, Siraj was arrested but allegedly escaped.

According to Indian police, Khan must need to get a passport and legal documents in order to visit his family in India.