Home Ministry allows Pakistani woman deported after Pahalgam attack to return to India on visitor visa

Ministry of Home Affairs

The Ministry of Home Affairs has allowed a Pakistani woman, who was deported after the Pahalgam attack, to return to India on a visitor visa.

The 62-year-old Rakshanda Rashid had filed a petition in the Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, asking permission to return to her family in India.

Rashid had married Sheikh Zahoor Ahmed 35 years ago in Jammu, and was deported after the Indian government's decision regarding the deadly Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, 2025.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for the Home Ministry, told the court that the ministry has decided to give Rashid a visitor visa after considerable deliberation and looking at the peculiar circumstances of this case.

The bench has noted that Rashid can pursue the two applications that have been moved by her regarding acquiring Indian citizenship as well as a long-term visa that she needs to stay with her family in India.

"Once an in-principle decision is taken by the competent authority, there is hardly any doubt that, post compliance of the requisite procedures and formalities, the authority would process and accord a visitor's visa to the respondent at the earliest," the court noted.

On April 28, Rashid got a Leave India Notice under Sections 3(1), 7(1), and 2(c) of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 1946, issued by the Criminal Investigation Department, directing her to leave the country by or before April 29. After this, Rashid had approached the High Court and had sought interim relief to stay the order operation.

But she was issued an exit permit and the authorities had escorted her to the Attari-Wagah border in Amritsar. From there, she had crossed over to Pakistan. This had come in the aftermath of the deadly Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people after terrorists opened fire at them, after confirming their religious identities.