MHA tells High Court it will grant visitor visa to deported Pakistani woman

Srinagar, Aug 01: In a significant development, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has informed the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court that it has decided to grant a visitor visa to Rakshanda Rashid, a Pakistani national who was deported from India following the Pahalgam terror attack.

The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal, as reported by the Srinagar-based news agency Kashmir Dot Com, formally recorded the Union Ministry’s decision to grant the visa. The court, however, noted that the arrangement “shall not constitute a precedent in any manner.”

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the MHA, informed the court that “after much deliberation and considering the peculiarity of facts… an in-principle decision has been taken by the authority to grant a visitor visa to the respondent.” He assured the court that the authorities would “process and accord a visitor visa to the respondent at the earliest” following the completion of formalities.

The Bench noted that this in-principle decision was based solely on the unique circumstances of the case and “shall not constitute a precedent in any manner,” thereby upholding the broader legal stance on such deportations.

Senior Advocate Surinder Kour, representing Rakshanda Rashid, informed the court that her client was “fully agreeable” to the proposed resolution, marking the conclusion of a protracted legal battle that began after Rashid’s deportation on April 29, 2025, in the wake of the government’s mass removal of Pakistani nationals following the Pahalgam attack.

Rakshanda Rashid, 62, was deported after the MHA cancelled all Pakistani visas as a security measure. Although her Long-Term Visa (LTV) had expired in January, she had applied for a renewal, which was still under process when she was served a “Leave India Notice.”

On June 6, a Single Judge Bench had ordered Rashid’s return to India, calling the decision an “SOS-like indulgence” in light of her 38-year stay in the country and her marriage to an Indian national. The MHA later challenged that order, maintaining that her visa had already lapsed at the time of her deportation.

Rashid’s family had previously alleged procedural lapses, claiming that her application for LTV renewal was under active consideration when she was forcibly deported. Her daughter, Fatima Sheikh, had voiced concerns over her mother’s ordeal in Pakistan, where she allegedly had “no relatives or financial support.”

With the MHA now agreeing to issue a visitor visa, the matter appears to have reached a humanitarian resolution, albeit with legal boundaries firmly outlined by the court. (KDC)