Life could not have been more ironic for 90-year-old Haji Shaikh Manzoor of Bherokhara village in Samastipur district of Bihar. Partition, the need to retain his job and then the war for the liberation of Bangladesh kept him away from his birthplace and family for over half a century. But a year after he was reunited with them, the law once again threatens his new found joy.

The Bihar Home department has shot off a letter to Manzoor asking him to leave India on his own or face deportation. The severely ill man was brought here from Karachi by his son in July 2006. His visa was extended on medical grounds but expired on April 30.

The old man is not ready to go and is pleading for relief from the law so that he can die in peace in his birthplace and in front of his sons, grandchildren and great grandchildren. His wife died a few days ago and he now awaits his own death and burial at his birthplace.

“Oh God! Bless me with death as soon as possible so that I am saved from being dragged to Pakistan,” is Manzoor’s repeated refrain.

When contacted, state Home Secretary Afzal Amanullah expressed helplessness, pointing out that it was up to the Ministry of External Affairs to grant him permit to live on in India. “If the MEA denies him the permission, then he will be deported to Pakistan,” Amanullah told The Indian Express. Samastipur SP Surendra Lal Das too expressed his inability to help the hapless Manzoor.

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