https://arab.news/pyqn2
- Sameera Abdul Rahman married an Indian national in Qatar before traveling to India without a visa
- Rahman gave birth to a daughter in prison who also accompanied her mother to Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani woman who spent four years in an Indian prison after traveling to that country without a visa has returned to her homeland after getting assistance from Pakistani authorities, reported the local media on Sunday.
Karachi-born Sameera Abdul Rahman was living in Qatar where she met an Indian man whom she married against the wishes of her family. Her husband brought her to India without a visa in 2016, for which both of them were imprisoned.
Rahman also gave birth to a daughter in prison in 2017 who also accompanied her mother to Pakistan.
Last month, the Pakistani interior ministry said it had issued a citizenship certificate to her after the country's diplomatic mission in India held a meeting with her to confirm her nationality.
"Indian authorities handed over Sameera Rahman and her daughter Sana Fatima to Pakistani authorities at the Wagha border," The News reported, adding she was accompanied by officials of the Pakistan High Commission.
The newspaper said it would take another four days for her to fulfil "all the legal requirements and to complete immigration processes."
Rahman was released from Indian jail and kept in a custodial center after she paid a fine of million rupees to the Indian authorities.
A Pakistani senator, Irfran Siddiqui, who was following her case and first took it up in parliament, told the newspaper that no one from the woman's family was there to receive her at the Wagha border.