Pakistan-born woman granted Indian citizenship after two decades

Nearly two decades after leaving Pakistan for India, 38-year-old Poonam, who has been living in Rampur on a long-term visa, has finally been granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) in an unforgettable Diwali gift for her family.

Poonam, who came to India in 2004 with her brother Gagan amid growing militancy in Pakistan’s Swat region, had been waiting for years to secure legal recognition as an Indian citizen.

Her brother was granted citizenship in 2016, but her own application faced repeated rejections before finally being approved this year under the provisions of CAA.

Poonam had initially moved between Delhi and Rampur after arriving in India. In 2005, she married Puneet Kumar, a local businessman, and the couple have a child. She continued visiting her family in Pakistan until 2013, when the absence of a valid Pakistani ID prevented the renewal of her passport and effectively ended her visits home.

Puneet Kumar said the family was overjoyed to receive confirmation of her citizenship from the agencies concerned just before Diwali.

“It feels like a festival gift for our family. The timing made this Diwali even more special,” he said.

The couple said they plan to complete the remaining paperwork soon.

“We will travel to Lucknow in the coming days to finish the remaining formalities of the citizenship process,” Puneet added.

Poonam, too, expressed her excitement at the new chapter in her life.

“Now I want to get my Aadhaar, PAN and other Indian identity documents as soon as possible so that I can truly feel like an Indian citizen,” she said.

It has been a long wait for Poonam, whose journey from Swat to Rampur began when her father, a wholesale food trader, sent her and her brother to India in 2004 to ensure their safety as violence escalated in the region.

The next time she visits her parental home in Mingora, it will be “as an Indian citizen carrying an Indian passport”, she said with anticipation.

Rampur SP Vidyasagar Mishra confirmed that the citizenship process for Poonam has been completed.

“People on both sides are good. A handful of terrorists in Pakistan have given the country a bad name. As for us, we didn’t find any problems on either side of the border,” Puneet said, adding that Poonam’s family in Mingora have no plans to shift to India.