NEW DELHI: A woman from Pakistan, after a long wait of 13 years, was granted the Indian citizenship, The Times of India newspaper reported.
Deputy Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal handed over the certificate of the Indian citizenship to Tahira Hazoor, the paper reported. The 33-year-old woman got married to Maqbool Ahmad, a resident of Qadian in Gurdaspur in 2003, hails from Pakistan’s Faisalabad, had applied for the Indian citizenship in March 2011 after completing the mandatory seven years of stay in India.
Even the Punjab government had recommended her case to the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi but she was neither granted the Indian citizenship nor a temporary visa for Pakistan. In the absence of the citizenship, for the last 13 years, she was not allowed to move out of Qadian, she said. She has two daughters and a son from her marriage, all of them have the Indian citizenship and are free to move to any place.
Elated over getting the Indian citizenship, Tahira said that she would first go to Pakistan to see her mother who has been unwell for the last five years. She said that she would also apply for the Indian passport soon.