Dubai: Financial difficulties have often led many expats to return home, but there seems no such option for Mohammad Aman, whose cross-border family of six is stuck in a long-standing diplomatic limbo.
Aman, 29, is from Peshawar, Pakistan, but his wife Shahida (name changed on request) holds an Indian passport as do two of their three daughters, Umaima and Aisha.
The couple hope their third daughter, Khadijah, who was born last month in Sharjah, will get an Indian passport in due course.
Yet Shahida, 33, says her plan to settle down with all her children in India looks a distant dream because their son Hamza has a Pakistani passport.
Long wait
Hamza was three years old when Shahida first contacted the Consul General of India in Dubai for a change of passport.
Two-and-a-half-years on the family is still waiting.
“We tried our luck again this April but despite several visits to the consular offices of India and Pakistan, Hamza’s passport remains unchanged,” says Aman, who works for a logistics company in Dubai.
“If getting an official No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the government of Pakistan - the very first step - wasn’t daunting enough, I had the small matter of dealing with officials from the other side of the border.
"Every time we sought their advice, we were asked to wait,.
“I have read how she has helped many including a fellow Pakistani who wanted a visit visa to India, but I have had no such luck so far.”
The Sharjah resident even tweeted his plight to India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Frequent skirmishes at the border have soured relations between the two nuclear neighbours.
Given the current scenario, Aman feels Hamza has little chance of getting an Indian passport.
“The only time he has been to the country was during a family wedding several years ago when he got a visit visa," Aman said.
“He was our first born and we never really thought much then about his nationality, but now it’s hurting us.
“I can still continue to live and work here without my children but I can’t expect Hamza to be without his sisters and mother. The possibility of my family being torn apart weighs on me all the time.”
A comment from the Consul General of India was not immediately available.
