The family of Princess Faiza Sultan, the granddaughter of the last Nawab of the Princely State of Bhopal in India - Nawab Hamidullah Khan - arrived unexpectedly at the Wagah border on Tuesday evening, after being deported from Bhopal.

The family, including Faiza Sultan, her husband and two sons, were allowed across after some discussion by Pakistani officials, as their papers were not complete.

The family had also contacted interior ministry officials after learning the deported royals would be arriving.

Faiza Sultan is the cousin of Shehryar Khan, a retired diplomat and the current chairman of Pakistan's Cricket Board (PCB).

The deportation, apparently by Bhopal police, took place after the family, which had arrived in Bhopal from Pakistan last year, had applied for a visa extension.

According to family sources in Karachi, Faiza Sultan, whose family had migrated to Pakistan after Partition, continued to miss Bhopal and had wished to return.

"After staying in Bhopal for some months they had approached top officials, including former home minister L.K. Advani, to apply for a visa extension," family sources said.

Before any official decision could be taken, police allegedly rounded up the family secretly, bundled them into a train bound for New Delhi, and then sent them on to the Wagah border.

"I must appreciate the good sense shown by Pakistani border officials who allowed them across," former ambassador Shehryar Khan stated.

Well established

The family is well established in the country, but has retained its close links with Bhopal, with Shehryar Khan the author of a book about the unusual women rulers of the state, and also his own mother, Princess Abida Sultan.

The family is reported to have been "bewildered and exhausted" as they arrived at the border.

The news of their deportation is making news both in India and Pakistan, with relatives in Bhopal stating they had "no idea‚ where the royals had vanished, and remained" highly concerned‚ about them, until learning they were in Pakistan.

"After staying in Bhopal for some months they had approached top officials, including former home minister L.K. Advani, to apply for a visa extension."

Family sources