AMRITSAR, India: At least eight Afghan Nationals including a woman have been arrested at the Atari Rail Head on Nov. 20 on charges of entry into India without valid documents, According to office sources quoted by PTI. They accompanied the Sikh pilgrims who returned from Pakistan in a special train after a 10 day visit to Sikh shrines on the occasion of Birth anniversary of Guru Nanak De: While the woman identified is Ajit Kaur, 45, the rest of the arrested persons are between the ages of 14 to 22, Their entry into the Indian territory baffled the Indian authorities since they reached Attari unchecked by the Pakistan authorities on their side. The Afghan Nationals told the Indian authorities that they were in distress in ‘Afghanistan as it has become difficult to earn their livelihood due to political conditions and requested the Indian authorities to allow them for stay in India to do petty jobs to earn their livelihood. It is stated that Afghans have not sought asylum so far. Four of them came by the first train and other four came in groups of two in subsequent trains.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 28, 1986
