India helps Pakistani boy reunite with mom

India has helped a Pakistani boy reunite with his mother on the border in Wagah near Amritsar town in the northern state of Punjab.

The five-year-old boy, Iftikhar Ahmed, was brought to India by his father last year. His mother claims that her former husband, who is from the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, had brought their child to India on the pretext of attending a marriage ceremony and then left behind.

"I am extremely happy to have my son back. I am thankful to the Pakistani government for its help for return of my child," Iftikhar's mother Rohina Kiyani told the media after Indian border guards handed him over to Pakistani Rangers in Wagah Saturday.

"I had lost all hope of getting my child back. It's not a less than a miracle for me."

However, Kiyani's journey to get back her son had not been that easy. She had to file a case in an Indian court, with the help of the Pakistan's High Commission in the national capital, and prove that the boy is a Pakistani citizen. The court had ruled in her favor in May last year.

source: Xinhua