Seema Haider Pleads to Stay in India Amid Deportation Fears After Visa Suspension
Seema Haider, the Pakistani woman who illegally entered India to marry her lover, has appealed to Prime Minister Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath to let her stay, amid growing fears of deportation.
Seema Haider, who made national headlines in 2023 after crossing into India to marry Sachin Meena, has issued an emotional appeal to Indian authorities, requesting not to be deported to Pakistan. Her plea comes after the Indian government suspended visa services for Pakistani nationals in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
“I do not want to go back to Pakistan. I appeal to PM Modi and CM Yogi to let me stay in India,” Haider said in a video widely circulated on social media.
Haider, who claims to have converted to Hinduism, emphasized, “I was Pakistan’s daughter, but now I am India’s daughter-in-law.”
Haider’s lawyer, Advocate AP Singh, expressed confidence that Seema will not be deported, arguing that her citizenship status has effectively changed after marriage.
“Seema is no longer a Pakistani national. She married an Indian citizen and recently gave birth to their daughter, Bharti Meena. Her citizenship is now tied to her Indian husband, so the Centre’s visa suspension should not apply to her,” Singh told PTI.
Currently residing in Greater Noida, Haider and Meena have been living together since she entered India illegally via Nepal with her four children in May 2023.
The Indian government’s decision to suspend visa services for Pakistani nationals was taken during a high-level Cabinet Committee on Security meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Ministry of External Affairs has cancelled all valid visas issued to Pakistanis effective April 27, with medical visas allowed only until April 29.
Pakistani nationals currently in India have been instructed to leave before their visas expire.
The move is part of a series of measures India has implemented following the deadly terror attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, where 26 tourists were killed by Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists.
Seema Haider’s story first captured public attention in July 2023 when she was found living with Sachin Meena in Uttar Pradesh’s Rabupura area. The two met through online gaming in 2019 and maintained a long-distance relationship before Haider made the risky decision to cross borders illegally.
Authorities detained Haider upon discovery, but her case has since remained in legal and public limbo.
