Pakistani family spends night on Mumbai street after refused entry

They were turned away for being Pakistani.

A family who brought their 12-year-old child to ask for the blessings of Allah at Mumbai’s Haji Ali mosque is forced to live on the platform at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Railway station. Smaller hotels do not have these registers or forms, nor do they have personnel familiar with the rules, so they avoid giving rooms to foreigners, whether Pakistanis or other nationalities. When their efforts to return to their relatives’ house in Jodhpur went in vain, the family – which included three women and a boy – had no option but to spend the night on a footpath, reported the Times of India.

The family had arrived in India last week, and stayed with relatives in Jodhpur.

A sub-inspector of Railway Police Force (RPF) provided a few succour to the family of around five members after they reached the Mumbai Central Railway Station on Wednesday but the family failed to find accommodation in any hotel or lodge, its senior inspector R K Arya said.

Shakil said further: “Once the hotel and guesthouse owners knew that we belong to Pakistan they didn’t even bother to reply”.

The boy, who watched Bajrangi Bhaijan, is a big Salman Khan fan, and the family wanted to meet the actor. However, the local railway authorities informed them that there was no train for Jodhpur late at night and they would have to return the next morning.

He asked why the hotels were denying them accommodation when the Indian government had given them valid visas.

The family had the spend the entire day on the roads because of the crowded railway station during the day. In a surprisingly gracious statement, Noor Banu said, “We are going from Mumbai, but don’t want to go with bitter memories”.

The family did not approach the police, saying their priority was to reach home at the earliest.

On Thursday morning, October 15, the family left for Jodhpur. “However, one will think about the treatment given to him or her on foreign soil”, said Ahmed.