After 7 years, family stranded in Karachi returns home

Panur native had gone to dispose of his father’ property

It was an emotional reunion for Haneef Maranveettil (centre), his wife, Aseena (right), and their children when they reached their home near Panur in Kannur on Sunday. They were deported from Karachi where they were stranded since 2007.

The sense of relief Haneef Maranveettil and his family experienced knows no bounds as their ordeal for nearly seven years ended on his arrival with his wife and two children from Karachi at his native Panur on Sunday.

The couple and their children had been stranded in the Pakistani city since 2007. They were freed from their distress on April 19 when the Pakistani authorities deported them on a flight to Mumbai. They reached Haneef’s family house at Makkoolpeedika on Sunday, much to the relief of the extended families of the couple.

“We are happy that we have been able to join our families after spending distressful years in Karachi,” 37-year-old Haneef told The Hindu over phone from his residence on Monday.

Deported

He said that the Pakistani authorities told the couple and the children that they were being deported after the Government of India issued passports to his children. The couple’s apprehension of being deported without their children born in Pakistan was replaced by a huge sense of relief. He was relieved that he could join his 70-year-old mother, T. Ayisha, and his brother Nissar.

The agony of the couple stranded in Karachi had been first reported by The Hindu in an Islamabad-datelined story in December 2013.

Haneef had gone to Karachi with his wife in 2007, following the death of his sibling there, to dispose of his father’s property.

His father, K. Abdulla, had gone to Karachi before Partition and was running a tea shop there. A Pakistani citizen, he had died in 1992 and his shop had been run by Haneef’s brother. The couple who reached Pakistan found themselves in a difficult situation as the formality of transferring his father’s property was delayed.

Ministers’ intervention

Haneef said that Agricultural Minister K.P. Mohanan and Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran were among those who had actively intervened for ending their misery in Karachi.

Mr. Mohanan was among those who visited his house to greet the couple on Sunday. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had also spoken to him over phone on Sunday, he added.