India, New Delhi: Pakistani –British singer and actress Salma Agha will get an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card that will offer her multiple entry, multi-purpose life-long visa to visit India and exemption from reporting to police. “We have decided to grant Salma Agha the OCI card after following the due procedure,” a senior Home Ministry official said yesterday.
Agha had also met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday and put forth her request so she could visit India frequently, reported the Times of India. Agha said she receives a lot of love and adulation from India, adding that she could have become Indian citizen anytime as her forefathers hail from Punjab’s Amritsar city.
Agha, the granddaughter of legendary actor Jugal Kishore Mehra and actress Anwari Begum, is currently a UK citizen. “There is nothing new in this (visa being given). Modi ji’s government has helped me so much. We are grateful. I could have taken citizenship anytime. I belong to India. I am an Indian. My forefathers are from Amritsar,” she said after the meeting. She also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his initiatives for the empowerment of women.