New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) Harinder Baweja, Editor (Investigations) of weekly news magazine Tehelka, was deported from Pakistan Friday evening after immigration authorities declared that she was blacklisted for visa violation.
Baweja, who has visited Pakistan over a dozen times for journalistic assignments over 10 years, was taken aback when told by immigration officials in Lahore that she had to take the next flight back to Delhi.
"The immigration officials told me I was blacklisted because of news reports that I wrote when I was working for India Today (weekly magazine). But I left the magazine in 2001 and have gone to Pakistan at least thrice after that. So it simply does not make sense," Baweja told IANS.
Interestingly, the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi had no objection to her travel and issued her a visa on July 21 to visit Lahore and Islamabad. "When I rang up the commission from Lahore after the incident, they assured me their records indicated nothing to show that I was blacklisted," said Baweja.
This is the second time that an Indian journalist has been sent back while travelling with valid travel documents. Earlier this year, Kanwar Sandhu, a senior journalist from Hindustan Times (daily), was also sent back from Lahore when he was part of an official delegation led by former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.
In Tehelka's latest issue, Baweja has an exclusive interview with underworld mobster Chotta Rajan who has come out strongly against India's most wanted fugitive, Dawood Ibrahim, widely perceived to be hiding in Pakistan.
