Kolkata, May 3 (UNI) Chandannagar police in Hooghly district have arrested a Pakistani national, Fatima Biwi, who has allegedly been residing in India for 45 years.

Originally a resident of Rawalpindi in Pakistan, Fatima crossed over to India with her parents in 1980 and had been living with her husband and children in Chandannagar Kuthir Math area for the last 45 years, police sources said.

According to police sources, Fatima came to India with her father on a tourist visa in 1980 and married Muzaffar Mallik, a bakery owner from Chandannagar, in 1982. The couple’s two daughters are now also married.

Although Fatima has been living in India for over four decades, police records state she was reported missing just a year after her arrival.

Fatima was arrested on Saturday from the two-storey house of Muzaffar Mallik, located behind a mosque near Kuthir Math in Chandannagar.

“After the central government ordered us to send back all Pakistani nationals to their country when we started tracing them, we discovered that this sexagenarian woman had been living here. Now we must complete the formalities and initiate the process of sending her back to Pakistan,” said a senior officer of the Chandannagar Police Commissionerate.

Family sources claimed that Fatima was born in West Bengal but had to move to Pakistan with her father for his work, and now, with no relatives there, it would be difficult for her to stay in that country.

“She’s 60 years old now and has to take several medicines daily. She needs regular medical check-ups and is scheduled to undergo knee surgery soon. I request the police to release her,” a family member said.

The family member also said that Fatima has applied for Indian citizenship but the process has not been completed till now.

This is arguably the first arrest of a Pakistani national in West Bengal after the central government ordered all Pakistani nationals to leave India following the Pahalgam terrorist attack.

UNI XC RN