Two young sisters in India’s Kerala state have been left stateless after a prolonged legal and bureaucratic tussle over their Pakistani citizenship. Despite claims that they surrendered their Pakistani passports in 2017, the sisters remain without nationality as Indian authorities continue to demand official renunciation certificates — documents Pakistan has refused to issue.
According to their mother, Rasheeda Bano, her daughters gave up their Pakistani passports at the High Commission in New Delhi when they were teenagers. However, under Pakistani law, individuals below 21 cannot formally renounce citizenship, which resulted in the refusal of renunciation certificates. Although the sisters reapplied after attaining the required age threshold, their requests were again denied without explanation.
The situation has left them unable to apply for Indian passports or secure legal recognition, placing their lives on hold for years. While Bano and her son successfully obtained Indian citizenship, the daughters remain in limbo. In 2018, the Pakistani High Commission issued a “no objection” certificate stating the passports had been surrendered and that there was no bar to granting Indian nationality. But Indian authorities have refused to accept this as a substitute for renunciation papers.
In 2023, a single-judge bench of the Kerala High Court ruled in the sisters’ favor, describing the demand for documents that could not be obtained as “directing them to do the impossible.” The court ordered the federal government to grant them citizenship. However, on August 23 this year, a two-judge bench overturned that verdict, siding with the Ministry of Home Affairs. It stressed that Indian citizenship requires “legal clarity” and that the renunciation process was a vital safeguard.
The sisters now face the possibility of appealing to India’s Supreme Court in a bid to stay in India.
Meanwhile, their mother says the ordeal has left the family stigmatized and her daughters without even the basic legal recognition of nationality.
