Kashmiri man wants ‘anti-national’ wife deported to Pak

In a cross-border love story turning sour, a Pakistani woman, Mehnaz Siddiqi, who had tied the knot with a Kashmiri man a decade ago, has accused her husband of domestic violence and death threats. The husband, Abdullah Danish Sherwani, a liaison officer with the University of Kashmir, has reacted by calling his spouse “anti-national” and a Pakistani spy and has sought her deportation to her home country.

Mehnaz recently “exposed” her husband with an open letter on the social media, writing in detail about the torture she alleged she suffered in Danish’s hands. Danish, on his part, recently wrote to the National Investigation Agency and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh about Mehnaz’s alleged espionage. During Rajnath Singh’s latest visit to the valley, Danish tweeted to him labelling his wife as an anti-national, while also seeking audience with Singh. He claimed that he had divorced Mehnaz and described her presence in Kashmir as a serious security breach. Mehnaz denies that she is divorced.

In her letter, which contains explicit details of insufferable domestic violence, Mehnaz alleged, “He would beat me regularly and even lock me inside the premises. The torture continued and now kids were witness to it too and victims as well.” She currently lives in Srinagar along with her children at the university staff quarter issued to her estranged husband. She has sought police protection.

It was over the now defunct Orkut that the couple had first interacted. Mehnaz soon fell in love with Danish.