PANAJI: An 11-year-old Polish girl, who was brought up in India and was studying in Goa until a few weeks ago, has requested the prime minister and the external affairs minister to allow her and her mother to return to India, a place that they “call home”.
In April, her mother Martushka Kotlarska had petitioned former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to reunite her with her daughter. She was denied entry at the Kempegowda international airport after being allegedly blacklisted for having overstayed her visa term. Martushka was permitted re-entry on humanitarian basis for a few days only, when she picked up her daughter.
Eleven-year-old Alicja Wanatko, in a hand-written letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has urged him to remove her and her mother’s name from the blacklist and allow her to her to return to her life in Goa. She stated that her friends, animals, school and happiness lie in the country.
“I love my school in Goa, the beautiful nature, and I am missing my volunteering in the animal rescue centre there where I was helping take care of cows. My mum could not re-enter India on March 24 after a short trip out, and we were told we were blacklisted due to our overstay. It just felt so unfair because it was not due to our fault,” she stated in her letter to the PM.
The mother and daughter are now in Cambodia.