Pakistani woman unable to travel back from India after divorce

Kubra Gilani is not being given clearance by Indian authorities

LAHORE: Indian authorities are not granting clearance to a Pakistani woman who wants to return home after divorcing her Indian husband, it has been learnt.

Kubra Gillani, from Domail tehsil of Muzaffarabad, in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), married Muhammad Altaf, a resident of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) in March 2010.

The couple remained issueless after eight years of their marriage which led to their breakup in November 2018.

The Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi has issued her a new passport to facilitate her travel back to Pakistan, Kubra told The Express Tribune. The Indian government, however, is not allowing her to return.

Kubra, who works as a housekeeper, claims she has been visiting the Indian interior ministry office for several months but is not being issued clearance.



Kubra has appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to take up the matter with the Indian government to resolve her predicament.

Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi has held out an assurance that it would take up the matter with Indian authorities.

Humanitarian worker Ansar Burney also said that his trust would do everything possible to bring Kubra back home.

According to Kubra, more than 200 women from Pakistan and AJK are currently stranded in different cities of India and IOK due to the Indian refusal to issue them clearance. “Three stranded Pakistani women in IOK have committed suicide over the past few months,” she claimed.

“The puppet government in Indian Occupied Kashmir had told me that I would be issued citizenship after which I would be able to travel back to AJK to see my family,” she said. “Now, they are not allowing me return to Pakistan.”

Kubra said her family, including mother and three siblings, were anxiously awaiting her return, while her father and one sister have died wishing to see her back home.