6MONTH VISA EXTENSION TO WOMAN WHO MARRIED PAK MAN
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities on Tuesday said they have granted a six-month extension of the visa of Kiran Bala, a Sikh woman from Garhshankar town in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district who embraced Islam and married a Muslim man while on a pilgrimage.
The interior ministry approved the extension of the visa on Monday, officials said.
Kiran, who has taken the name Amna Bibi after her conversion, was granted a Pakistani visa valid from April 12 to 21 to visit Lahore for the Baisakhi festival.
She married Muhammad Azam, whom she reportedly befriended on social media, while in Lahore and said she did not want to return to India. Azam confirmed the news that his wife’s visa had been extended for six months. “I will receive the passport and other documents,” he said.
The interior ministry, acting on the orders of the Lahore high court, had summoned Kiran Bala and her husband to Islamabad. The couple appeared before the relevant officer on Monday but there was a delay as she did not have her passport.
Kiran’s passport was with the Evacuee Trust Property Board, which keeps the travel documents of visiting Indian pilgrims. Her passport was needed for verification of the first visa. After much delay, the ETPB shared her Indian passport, following which her visa was verified. After this, approval was granted for extending her visa. Talking to the media, Kiran said: “I am hopeful of getting Pakistani nationality too.”
CHANDIGARH: Canadian authorities have reportedly ‘rounded up’ and ‘questioned’ Hardip Singh Nijjar, Pakistan InterServices Intelligence (ISI)-backed Sikh hardliner, for allegedly running training camps for terrorists. Indian authorities had issued a lookout circular against Nijjar on January 23, 2015.
Punjab Police have Nijjar on its list of most-wanted Khalistanis. His name was also on the list of nine wanted Khalistanis that chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had given to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his recent India visit.
Intelligence wing officials with the Punjab Police claim that Canada questioning Nijjar was a big diplomatic win and had resulted due to the pressure that the state had created.
“Nijjar was rounded up on the basis of crucial intelligence input that the Indian government provided. He was released after questioning and is now under strict vigil for his anti-India activities,” a police source said.
Reports from Delhi suggest that over the last week, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case against Nijjer for anti-India activities. Police also claim that Nijjar had been organising training camps in the Canadian province of British Columbia at the behest of the ISI.
Nijjar has refuted the allegations. Born in 1977, he is from Jalandhar district and is now based in Surrey, Canada. He is wanted in Punjab in various cases, including a bomb blast near a temple in Patiala in 2010. He is also accused of hatching a conspiracy for a Khalistani terror module that has killed various Hindu leaders in Punjab over the past two years.
In interviews available online, Nijjar has denied any links with the Pakistani spy agency and has instead claimed that Indian agencies had been framing him.