Ahmedabad: Amid Citizenship law protests across the country, a newborn in Gujarat’s Vatva area has been issued certificates with the birthplace mentioned as “Pakistan railway crossing”.
18-month-old, Mohammed Uzerkhan, son of Arbazkhan Pathan and Mahekbanu Pathan, was born on October 1, 2018, at VS Hospital.
“We got the birth certificate when my daughter-in-law was discharged from the hospital. We did not notice the error at that time… we have been trying to get it corrected but have not been able to,” said the baby’s grandfather.
Sarfaraz Khan, great grandfather of the child said that this is a grave mistake as the references to the area in local parlance have got reflected in the official record.
On Saturday, the matter was brought to the notice of Congress Behrampura corporator Badruddin Shaikh. “It is surprising that the doctor, who had signed the certificate, issued it before even looking at it. The officials must know that there is no area called Pakistan in Ahmedabad. The officials responsible for the error should be suspended,” said Shaikh.
The crossing in the area is informally referred to as ‘Pakistan crossing’ as it is near a Muslim-dominated locality housing around 2,200 families referred to ‘Chhota Pakistan’. The area is officially named ‘Vasant Gajendragadkar Nagar EWS Housing’ named after the state’s first general secretary of the Jan Sangh Party in Gujarat.