Pakistan has issued a nationality certificate, which will lead to becoming a citizen of Pakistan, to a stateless woman, Sumaira who has been stranded in India for four years. It was issued after verification by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and her family. Pakistan Interior Minister has sent her nationality certificate to Foreign Ministry.
Pakistan High Commission in India, New Delhi will issue travel documents and she will be able to come to Pakistan with her daughter who is four-years-old.
According to her lawyer, Sohana Biswapatna, Sumaira was born in Qatar to Pakistani parents who moved from Karachi for employment. She married an Indian Muslim for love in Qatar without the consent of her parents. She illegally moved to India with her husband in 2016.
Sumaira and her husband were arrested in 2017. However, her husband, who faced the charges of facilitating a foreign intruder, was released on bail after a few months. She remained in jail.
She gave birth to a daughter in prison.
The message she sent through her lawyer to BBC, “I have been punished by law for the mistake I made, but my sorrows and pains are not diminishing. The family had already separated, but now the husband in India has also turned away. At the moment, my only recourse is my country, Pakistan.”
According to Sumaira, she wanted to confess her crime but her husband stopped her from giving a statement. The husband thought that India would deport her if she confessed. He was trying to find a way to release her from jail and settle her in India.
Her case was stalled in India for three years as she did not confess to her crime.
Her husband stopped visiting her and attending her calls without any explanation around after two to three years. After losing hope of reunion, she confessed to her crime.
She was sentenced to a three year imprisonment, which she has already completed.
Currently, she is living in a state shelter in Bengaluru, Karnataka, a state of India.
