Bring back J&K resident’s son deported to Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir High Court tells Home Ministry

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to take steps to bring back the Pakistani-born son of an Indian citizen who was deported after the Pahalgam attack in April 2025.

Hearing the petition filed by 42-year-old Sajjad Ahmed, Justice MA Chowdhary directed the MHA to “take back the son of the petitioner, namely Aasim Sajjad, alias Fardin Sajjad, in pursuance of the ‘Notification of Quit India’ dated April 25.”

The court ruled that his son, who was around 18 when he was deported to Pakistan in 2025, should be allowed to “pursue his application for a long-term visa extension”. The court also directed the MHA to consider his application under Section 5(1)(d) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 and grant citizenship against him.

“[Sajjad Ahmed] As a citizen of India, this court is of the view that, keeping in mind the sacred human values ​​and rights, the court should step in to give certain directions,” Justice Chowdhary said while passing the directions to the MHA.

The court asked the MHA to carry out the exercise “expeditiously, preferably within a period of eight weeks”.

Mr Ahmed, a resident of Rajouri’s Budhal, had gone to Pakistan with a valid passport in 2005 to meet his relatives. During his stay there, he married Shabnum Kouser, a resident of Gujranwala, Pakistan. The couple’s baby was born there in 2006. He returned to India in 2007 and applied for an annual visa extension for his family members on grounds of marriage. In 2013, Mr. Ahmed’s wife died of an illness. His younger son’s visa was extended until 2015.

According to the family’s defense, the father made many applications to the authorities through appropriate channels to declare his son as an Indian citizen, “but neither the son was declared a citizen nor the visa was extended in his favour”.

According to the father’s plea, “Like a bolt of lightning from the sky, J&K Police personnel raided the petitioner’s house and took away his son without any information or a copy of the deportation order.” The son was then “forced into a police van and deported to Pakistan via the Wagah border”.

A large number of Pakistan-born citizens married to J&K citizens were deported from the Union Territory following the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians.