Bhubaneswar: At least a dozen Pakistani nationals living in Odisha have been asked to leave the state and get ready to be deported back to their country in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack which has worsened the relations between India and Pakistan. The fall-out of the attack has been particularly painful for some Pakistani women residing in Odisha.
Reports said that Nagma Yusuf, a Pakistan national, left Bhubaneswar on Sunday. She is among the 12 citizens from the neighbouring country identified by the authorities here for repatriation.
Nagma was residing at BJB Nagar area of the city on a long-term VISA after her marriage with an Indian citizen, Mohammed Nizamuddin, in 2008. She had recently obtained a visitor visa after subsequent applications for renewal of visa were rejected. She applied for an exit permit with foreigners’ registration office of the Commissionerate Police, a few days prior to the expiry of the visitor visa in February but it is still pending.
Following the gruesome attack on tourists at Baisaran meadows in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22 that left 26 dead, the Ministry of Home Affairs approved her application seeking departure and served her notice to leave the country in 48 hours.
Sarada Bai (55) is battling deep mental agony, facing deportation to a country she barely recalls after living in India for over three decades. On Saturday, she appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi not to separate her from her family.
In 1987, Sharda, along with her parents Mannha Mal and Indra Bai, and her nine siblings, entered India from Pakistan’s Sindh province on a 60-day visitor visa. While her four sisters and five brothers were granted Indian citizenship and settled in various cities, including Raipur, Lucknow, and Madhya Pradesh, Sharda’s attempts to secure long-term visas or citizenship remained unsuccessful. She has a Pakistani passport and an Indian voter ID card.
Over the years, she built a life, married, and raised a family here. “I landed in Koraput district with my family members, where I married Mahesh Kukreja, a bangle trader, and later shifted to Balangir. I have lived here for so many years, made friends, raised my children… this is my home. I have no one in Pakistan,” Sharada told the local media.
Similarly, 72-year-old Razia Sultana’s family is in shock ever since the Balasore district administration issued a notice to her to leave India on or before Sunday.
Razia is a resident of Pathan Mahala under Soro police limits. Her family call the notice a serious error since she was born in Kolkata in 1953. Her father, Haider Ali, used to live in Bihar and Kolkata and had married at Kazimahala in Soro. Razia was the middle of his three daughters. She settled at Pathan Mahala after marrying a local resident, Sk Samsuddin, when she was just 16.
Haider later moved to Bangladesh and then Pakistan, where he gained citizenship. Razia, however, holds an Aadhaar card, voter ID, PAN card, and residence certificate. She has never visited Pakistan and holds no Pakistani documents or visa, according to her daughter, Salma Parbin.
She added that the condition of her mother, who is battling multiple health issues, including kidney problems, has deteriorated since receiving the notice with her barely eating or sleeping in the past day. Such tales of woe continue to pour in.
