Sajid Raina
Srinagar, Sep 12: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has dismissed a 35-year long legal battle of a Pakistani couple to allow them to stay in Srinagar and has directed them to leave the country forthwith.
According to the details, an 80-year-old man, Mohammad Khalil Qazi, and his 61-year-old wife, Arifa were residing in Srinagar since 1988 on Pakistani passports. They had challenged a 1989 deportation order, claiming Indian citizenship and rights to ancestral property.
The High Court ruled that the couple had concealed facts to extend their stay in India and must leave the country immediately.
The court examined records, including a school certificate indicating that Qazi attended a Srinagar school from 1955 to 1957. This contradicted the couple’s claim that he was stranded in Pakistan after the 1948 India-Pakistan war.
The division bench, led by Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal, noted that the couple entered India on short-term visas that expired in 1988.
The judges stated that the appellants had not approached the court with clean hands and had attempted to manipulate the system by providing false information to prolong their stay.
The judgment referred to recent legal precedents, including Supreme Court rulings warning against the use of falsehood in litigation.
The court said that the couple’s interim relief order in 1990 allowed them to remain in Srinagar for over three decades, but as of June 28, 2025, they were directed to leave India.
The bench added that under India’s Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, foreign nationals cannot enter, stay, or reside in India without valid visas or permits.
The court clarified that foreign nationals are entitled only to rights under Article 21 of the Constitution, which covers life and liberty, and not the right to settle in the country.
The couple had arrived in India in July 1988 with their minor son, Nayeem, and had obtained short-term residential permits. Multiple extensions were granted, but the 1989 deportation order had curtailed their stay.
The High Court upheld the legality of the original deportation order and dismissed the appeal, stating that the appellants had failed to provide any valid grounds for staying in India.
The court also reinforced that the government has absolute authority to expel foreign nationals.
