After the Pahalgam terrorist attack, which claimed 26 lives, India asked Pakistani citizens living in the country to return to Pakistan. Following this announcement, several unusual cases came to light—including a Pakistani man who had been living in India for 17 years and the wife of a CRPF jawan, both of whom were ordered to leave by the government’s deadline.
Minal Khan, a Pakistani woman who married CRPF personnel Munir Khan in May last year, had arrived in India in March on a short-term visa. Hailing from Pakistan’s Punjab province, she met Munir online, and the two grew close. They performed an online nikah in May 2024, according to a PTI report. However, her visa expired on March 22, and after overstaying, she was issued a notice to leave India by April 22—following the carnage in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.
The Centre had canceled the visas of Pakistani nationals and directed them to return by April 29. Minal, who reluctantly boarded the deportation bus to the border, was miraculously granted a last-minute reprieve when her lawyer, Ankur Sharma, arrived with a court stay order.
Minal Khan, the Pakistani wife of a CRPF jawan, was en route to the Attari-Wagah border when she received the legal intervention. Her lawyer, who is also reportedly a BJP spokesperson, informed her of the court’s stay on her deportation, as per the Greater Kashmir newspaper.
Before the Pahalgam attack, Khan had applied for a visa extension, which was still pending review by India’s Home Ministry. She has publicly condemned the attack on innocent civilians, demanding severe punishment for the perpetrators.
In her appeal to remain in India, Khan explained that after her short-term visa expired in March, she applied for a Long-Term Visa (LTV). Though she initially received positive indications about approval, the post-attack crackdown threatened to separate her from her husband. She described such family separations as “inhuman” and appealed directly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for justice, emphasizing that similar situations were tearing families apart, leaving children without parents.
