Governor Tessori to pay for treatment of disabled teen forcibly repatriated from India

Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori announced that he will bear the medical expenses of Ayan, a 17-year-old disabled youth who was undergoing treatment in India but was forcibly repatriated to Pakistan following the Pahalgam incident.

Governor Tessori expressed deep concern over what he described as India's inhumane treatment of ailing Pakistani citizens, particularly children.

Ayan was forced to return to Karachi, leaving his treatment incomplete and without the company of his mother and aunt.

Ayan told Dialogue Pakistan that his mother and aunt, being Indian nationals, were not allowed by Indian authorities to cross into Pakistan. 

“The basic principles of humanity do not allow the treatment of an innocent, disabled child to be halted just because he is a Pakistani,” Tessori stated.

Read: Wagah border sees emotional farewells as 536 Pakistanis return home from India

He pledged to cover the full cost of Ayan’s medical treatment in Pakistan, saying, “If India has stooped to hostility against humanity, I will fulfill my humanitarian duty and ensure this innocent child receives the care he deserves.”

Pakistani Family Separated After India Suspends Medical Visas

He added that Pakistanis are a proud nation that knows how to share in the suffering of others as well as their own. “We will respond to hatred with love and compassion, because those are our values,” the governor emphasised.

In the wake of the Pahalgam incident, the Indian government ordered all Pakistani nationals to leave the country and revoked visas under 14 categories.

Twelve of those categories, including visa on arrival, business, film, journalist, transit, conference, mountaineering, student, visitor, group tourist, pilgrim, and group pilgrim visas, were given an April 26 deadline for departure through the Wagah border, failing which legal action would be taken.

Visas issued under diplomatic, official, and Pakistani Hindu categories were not affected.

In a reciprocal move, Pakistan suspended all Indian visas except for Sikh pilgrims and gave Indian nationals until April 30 to exit the country via Wagah.