Sent to Pakistan in Pahalgam aftermath, 63-year-old set to return to family in Jammu as Centre makes an exception

Indian Express

3 days ago

Three months after revoking all short-duration visas issued to Pakistani nationals and deporting nearly 60 individuals to the neighbouring country, the Government of India has decided to issue a visitor's visa to 63-year-old Rakshanda Rashid, the wife of a retired government official, so that she can return from across the border and rejoin her family in Jammu and Kashmir.
The woman, a resident of Jammu's Talab Khatikan area, was deported to Pakistan on April 29 via the Atari-Wagah border in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. Her husband, Sheikh Zahoor Ahmed, and four grown-up children continue to stay in J&K since they are Indian nationals.
The matter came up in the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court on July 30, with the Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, saying that 'after much deliberations and considering the peculiarity of facts and unusual factual position obtaining in the mater, an in-principle decision is taken by the authority to grant a visitor's visa to the respondent'.
'Thereafter, she may even, if so advised, pursue the two applications that are purportedly moved by her and pending with the respective authority as regards acquiring Indian citizenship as also the long-term visa,'' he said.
Mehta had hinted on July 22 that there could be a reconsideration at the Centre's level, as he had requested the court to defer the proceedings to enable him to explore if the respondent could be helped in any manner.
In response to Mehta's statement before the Bench, advocates Ankur Sharma and Himani Khajuria, the counsel for the respondent, submitted that she is agreeable to the course suggested by the Solicitor General of India.
'In principle decision taken by the authorities centred upon the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case shall not constitute a precedent in any manner,' the Bench said.
As per court records, Rakshanda, who lived in Islamabad, entered India on February 10, 1990, via Attari on a visitor's visa for 14 days to visit Jammu, but continued to stay owing to a long-term visa (LTV) granted by the authorities on a year-to-year basis.
During her stay, she married an Indian national. Her LTV was valid up to January 13, 2025, and she applied for an extension on January 4, which was not granted.
Following the Pahalgam attack, the competent authority issued an order on April 25, revoking all existing valid visas with immediate effect.
On April 28, Rakshanda was served with a Leave India Notice by the Criminal Investigation Department (Special Branch Jammu). She approached the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court vide a writ petition and prayed for a stay of the order.
However, she was issued an exit permit and was escorted to the Attari-Wagah Border, Amritsar, by the authorities. She crossed over to Pakistan on April 29 at 4:30 pm.
On June 6, Justice Rahul Bharti ordered the Central government to 'retrieve' Rakshanda. While passing the order, Justice Bharti observed, 'This court is bearing in mind the background reference that the petitioner was having LTV status at relevant point of time which per-se may not have warranted her deportation, but without examining her case in better perspective and coming up with a proper order with respect to her deportation from the authorities concerned, still she came to be forced out.'
'Human rights are the most sacrosanct component of a human life,' observed Justice Bharti, who also referred to the statement of Rakshanda's husband Sheikh Zahoor Ahmed that 'his wife has no one in Pakistan for her care and custody, particularly when she is suffering from multiple ailments and that her health and life is at risk with each passing day and (she is) left to fend for herself as abandoned'.
There are occasions when 'a constitutional court is supposed to come up with SOS like indulgence notwithstanding the merits and demerits of a case which can be adjudicated only upon in due course of time', the judge observed. 'Therefore, this court is coming up with a direction to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, to bring back the petitioner from her deportation.'
Speaking to The Indian Express earlier, her husband had said that the children were worried sick about Rakshanda. According to him, though she had taken Rs 50,000 in Indian currency, she was running short of money to sustain, as a tray of eggs apparently cost Rs 600 and 1 kg atta cost Rs 250 in Pakistan.