Woman converted & married in Pakistan during Sikh pilgrimage, to be deported to India

Pakistani authorities have begun the process to deport Sarabjit Kaur, a Punjab woman who stayed back in Pakistan after travelling there on a Sikh pilgrimage in November and later married a Pakistani man after converting to Islam. She is expected to be handed over to Indian authorities at the Attari-Wagah border on Monday evening.

Sarabjit Kaur, a 52-year-old resident of Amanipur village in Kapurthala district, had travelled to Pakistan on November 4 as part of a Sikh jatha to mark the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. While the group returned on November 13, she remained behind, prompting concerns after she went missing from the pilgrimage group.

Subsequently, videos and documents surfaced showing her conversion to Islam and marriage to Nasir Hussain, a resident of Sheikhupura district near Lahore. In a viral nikah video, she stated that the conversion and marriage were of her own free will and claimed she had known Hussain for nine years. She also said she was divorced and had two sons from her previous marriage.

On January 4, a joint team of Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau and local police arrested the couple from a village near Nankana Sahib. Pakistani authorities said deportation proceedings were initiated as her single-entry visa had expired and she was not legally eligible to stay in the country.

Officials also flagged irregularities in her immigration documents, including alleged omissions of key personal details, which complicated efforts to trace her after she went into hiding. Her case has triggered scrutiny over how she received clearance for the pilgrimage despite multiple cases reportedly linked to her family back home.