Three sisters, two nations and long-waiting last rites

As nephew in Pakistan cannot get visa, an aged Shanno Dheer has to go to Lahore

With the Union Home Ministry maintaining a tight lid on visitors from Pakistan, a septuagenarian woman will be forced to travel to Lahore, despite her age, to carry out the last rites of her sister who ironically died in India last year.

This is the story of three sisters of the Dheer family. The eldest, Santosh, got married to a Lahore lawyer. The others, Mavel and Shanno, stayed behind in India. Mavel and Shanno lost their husbands early, while Santosh and her husband were murdered in Lahore in 1981. They left behind a son, Harsh Mehra.

The only male progeny, Harsh has been unable to come to India to perform the last rites of his aunt Mavel because of the stringent visa rules. For the past one year, he made repeated trips to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Having visited India when visa regulations were “not as idiotic as they are now,” Harsh was refused visa on one ground or the other. When he thought he had finally produced all documents, the Indian High Commission informed him that the rules had changed. Harsh now needed a ‘character certificate' from a gazetted officer.

“There was no such information on the Indian High Commission's website. And anyway, in today's environment, which officer in India will vouch for a Pakistani national?” asks Ms. Shanno Dheer. “I tried my best but unless the officer knows Harsh personally, he is not going to take responsibility for a Pakistan national.”

With his parents having been murdered and aunt Mavel having died last year, Shanno Dheer is the only living relative for Harsh.

While Mavel's ashes still await immersion, Harsh is trying to find out whether some of the rituals can be performed in Lahore as the Pakistan High Commission has assured Shanno Dheer a visa.

“They are nasty people. They didn't even let me talk to the visa officer. Perhaps, they had orders from above,” Harsh said of his experience at the Indian mission in Islamabad. “No problem with that, because if aunt Shanno can come over, it is one and the same thing. I can come to India and immerse the ashes after the rules are relaxed.”

Harsh does not know whether there is a priest in Lahore to conduct Hindu death ceremonies. “I will try to locate a priest who is said to conduct Hindu marriages. Perhaps, he can tell us which of the last rites for Mavel auntie can be performed in Lahore,” he says. As Ms. Shanno Dheer laboriously fills up the visa forms, the Pakistan High Commission has let it be known that given her age, she need not come for the interview.