Runaway Pakistani teenager sent back home

AMRITSAR - A teenaged Pakistani boy who ran away from his home near Lahore city in Pakistan two months back after a scolding from his father and landed up in the custody of security agencies in India, was finally repatriated to Pakistan to be re-united with his family.

Mohammad Ateeq, 13, walked across the zero line at the Attari-Wagah international border check-post between India and Pakistan, 30 km from here, Friday evening.

What was unique about his return was the fact that the border security agencies on both sides - the Border Security Force (BSF) in India and Pakistan Rangers across - went out of the way to enable the boy to cross into Pakistan well after the closing of the border gates at sunset.

Ateeq was caught by security officials from the Attari station after he was found on board the Samjhauta Express - the peace train between both countries that runs between Lahore and Attari near here. He was taken into custody and later sent to a juvenile home as he had travelled illegally to India without documents.

The boy had claimed that he had run away from home because his father scolded him for flying kites. He ended up sleeping inside an empty coach of a train at Lahore. He woke up to find himself in India. The railway coach in which he slept was part of the Samjhauta Express.

Having spent nearly two months in the juvenile home at Hoshiarpur, 140 km from Chandigarh, Ateeq said he was happy to be going back home where his family anxiously awaited his arrival.

Scared about his future when he was caught January this year, Ateeq said now he had many Indian friends whom he would remember.

The teenager now plans to take his class 7 examinations once he is back home.