Mumbai: A family from Karachi, Pakistan, was denied a hotel room when they were looking for accommodation in the Bhendi Bazar area of Mumbai.
“We have come to Mumbai to offer prayers at the Haji Ali Dargah. After arriving here, we went to almost 40 hotels, but all said they did not have Form C and the permission to accommodate Pakistanis. In fact, the staff of one of the hotels misbehaved with us and asked us to leave because of our nationality,” Inayat Ali, a member of the Pakistani family, told ANI here.
The family said they spent part of the night on a footpath near the railway station. After checking and verifying the family’s documents, Railway Police Officer Chauhan took them to a cabin at the Mumbai Central Police Station, located just outside the railway station, and told them to rest for sometime, besides offering them tea and snacks.
The family stayed near the police cabin till around 1-1.30 a.m. yesterday, Chauhan said.
They spent rest of the time sitting on a pavement outside the railway station before heading to Jodhpur to offer their prayers for the welfare of their son.
The Railway police official said , “India and Pakistan relations for the past several years have not been good. So, no Indian would be willing to welcome Pakistanis in the country.”
The family had arrived in India last week.
ANI