Asha Patil with her deceased husband Mumtaz Khalid

Asha Patil returns home today after the tragic death of her Pakistani husband, Mumtaz Khalid, she married over the Internet. She is depressed that neither the Indian government nor anyone from the Indian Embassy in Pakistan helped her when she was in dire need of it.

Helpless

"We have Pratibha Patil, a woman, as our president. She comes from the same state as I do and we also share the surname. But no one from the government helped me when my in-laws mistreated me after my husband's death," said Asha, who is a resident of Mira Road.

Asha is extremely bitter that no one even lifted a finger to help her while she ran from pillar to post looking for help against her abusive in-laws after her husband's death.

"Even if I married a Pakistani, I am still an Indian. Aren't Indians living in Pakistan the responsibility of the High Commission there?" she asked, preparing to leave Lahore for Amritsar today.

Asha was provided safety by the Pakistan government, which gave her security against her in-laws and a place to live. She chose to live in the house of the maulvi of a local mosque at Chishtiya in Bahawalpur district, while she waited for a case to be registered against her in-laws.

"I am leaving Pakistan with a heavy heart. Both my husband and son are buried here," she said. While Khalid died of a sudden heart attack, she miscarried their first child at eight months last year.

Asha discovered she was pregnant for a second time just before Khalid's death.

"The child is due in February and I want to be with my parents for the delivery. But even if he is born in India, he will be a Pakistani. He is Khalid's son," Asha said.

She is convinced that the child will be male and calls him Ahmed. "Before he died, Khalid decided to give our second child the same name as the first," she said.