Pakistan Army sends back woman with gifts

Srinagar: The Pakistan Army earlier this week sent a 55-year-old woman from West Bengal who had crossed over to PoK in October 2016 back to Jammu and Kashmir with sweets, clothes and other gift packs.

The authorities in Uri said that the Pakistan Army officials handed the woman who is suffering from mental retardation over to their counterparts from India at Kaman Post, the crossing point about 120-m northwest of Srinagar on Wednesday.

“After informing the Army authorities using the hotline, the Pakistani officials walked through Aman Sethu (Peace Bridge which connects the two parts of Kashmir) at the LoC and handed the woman over to them,” said a government official posted at Uri. The woman he could not identify by name had inadvertently crossed to the other side of the de facto border days after the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes against alleged terror structure in PoK giving birth to new tensions and lowest point in relations between the two countries.

The mentally-challenged woman has since been admitted to Srinagar’s government-run Psychiatric Diseases Hospital. “All she could tell is (that) she is from (West) Bengal but does not remember where in that State. Also, because of her mental illness she was unable to speak with confidence and give out other personal details,” the official said. The Army in Uri confirmed it saying that its area commander was contacted by his Pakistani counterpart through hotline on Wednesday morning about the woman and her mental condition and said that they are sending her back and would like to hand her over to them (Indian Army officials) at the Kaman Post.