Pak Hindu woman who resides in India since 2009, married school mate, gets Indian citizenship 14 yrs later

A Pakistani girl who came to India with her family 14 years back, fell in love with a boy who studied with her in school and got married to him four years back. She now has a daughter. On Tuesday, she finally received her certificate of Indian citizenship.

Ahmedabad: Komal, a Pakistani national who came with her family to India in 2009, was handed over the certificate of Indian citizenship on Tuesday. In 2019, Komal married a youth from Gujarat and has a daughter.

Komal's family left Pakistan after facing a lot of difficulties 14 years ago. Komal's father was a businessman in Karachi. At that time there used to be frequent law and order problems and incidents of robberies on the roads. He left behind all his property in Pakistan and travelled to Amritsar for a secured future of his three daughters. "After a prolonged process, Komal finally became an Indian citizen. Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi formally handed over the Indian citizenship certificate to Komal on September 12," Hitesh Gangwani, Komal's husband said.

After coming to India Komal and her sisters got admission in a local school. In 2011, the three sisters took admission in a school in Sardarnagar. Hitesh was studying in class 12 in the same school. Hitesh was told by his friends that three 'Pakistani sisters' have come to study in their school. Komal and her sisters were known as 'Pakistani sisters' in school, which Hitesh did not like because he thought it was rude to address them in this manner, Hitesh said.

Komal studied in the same class as Hitesh's sister and would often share stories of the difficulties they faced in Pakistan. When Hitesh's sister told him about Komal's situation, the latter's heart softened towards them. He even told his friends about it and they became friends.

The friendship between Hitesh and Komal soon turned into love and the two got married in 2019. In 2022, Komal gave birth to a daughter. Although Komal became an Indian citizen following her marriage with Hitesh, her legal rights were ensured after getting the citizenship certificate.

Presently, the Gujarat government is providing Indian citizenship to the people, who came from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and are living in the state for a long time. The family's happiness knew no bounds when Komal received her citizenship certificate on September 12 from Gujarat Home Minister. Ahmedabad has the highest number of Indian citizens and till now over 1100 people have been given citizenship certificates.