A Pakistani woman who had been languishing in a detention centre in Bengaluru for four years, after traveling to India without a visa has returned to her homeland after getting assistance from Pakistani authorities.

Karachi-born Sumaira Rahman was living in Qatar where she met an Indian man whom she married against the wishes of her family. Her husband brought her to India without a visa in 2016, for which both of them were imprisoned.

Rahman also gave birth to a daughter in prison in 2017 who also accompanied her mother to Pakistan.

PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui, who was following her case and first took it up in parliament and had said last week that Indian authorities have completed all formalities for Sumaira’s release, made the disclosure while talking to reporters in Islamabad.

“After (immigration process) she would be free to go wherever she wants to go,” Dawn news quoted Siddiqui as saying.

Siddiqui had raised the issue of Sumaira’s detention in India during a Senate session after the Ministry of Interior (MoI) failed to issue a certificate of nationality for her on the request of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

In 2018, the Pakistan High Commission was given consular access to Sumaira.

The High Commission staff after meeting her wrote a letter to the MoI in Islamabad to confirm her nationality. However, the letter was ignored by the ministry.

Last month, the Pakistani interior ministry said it had issued a citizenship certificate to her after the country's diplomatic mission in India held a meeting with her to confirm her nationality.

"Indian authorities handed over Samaira Rahman and her daughter Sana Fatima to Pakistani authorities at the Wagha border," The News reported, adding she was accompanied by officials of the Pakistan High Commission.

Pakistani High Commission officials accompanied Sumaira from Bengaluru to Wagah border.

The newspaper said it would take another four days for her to fulfil "all the legal requirements and to complete immigration processes."

Rahman was released from Indian jail and kept in a custodial center after she paid a fine of million rupees to the Indian authorities.