{
  "id": 166,
  "slug": "2019-india-revokes-taseer-oci-status",
  "title": "India: journalist Aatish Taseer's overseas citizenship revoked",
  "occurred_on": "2019-11-07",
  "occurred_on_precision": "day",
  "ended_on": null,
  "jurisdiction": "IN",
  "country": "IN",
  "continent": "asia",
  "level": "national",
  "type": null,
  "tactic_primary": "expulsion_and_visa_denial",
  "leader_slug": "narendra-modi",
  "issue_of_the_day": "Not stated in the sources reviewed.",
  "outcome": "sustained",
  "outcome_on": "2019-11-07",
  "outcome_note": "The cancellation was carried out and was not reported as reversed in the sources reviewed.",
  "granularity": "granular",
  "era": "2010s",
  "summary": "India's government cancelled writer and journalist Aatish Taseer's Overseas Citizen of India status months after he wrote a Time magazine cover story critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing his father's Pakistani nationality.{c:540}{c:644}{c:645}",
  "what_happened": "In May 2019, Time magazine published a cover story by writer and journalist Aatish Taseer that was critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of that year's general election. On August 13, 2019, India's Home Ministry sent Taseer a notice threatening to revoke his Overseas Citizen of India status, a form of long-term immigration status that lets people of Indian origin live and work in the country without a visa. The ministry said Taseer was ineligible for the status because his father, the Pakistani politician Salmaan Taseer, was a Pakistani national, and Pakistani nationals cannot hold it. On November 7, 2019, the government made the cancellation official. Taseer disputed the notice, said he did not hold Pakistani citizenship, and said he believed the action was linked to his criticism of the Modi government.{c:540}{c:644}{c:645}\n\nClosed; the cancellation was made official in November 2019.{c:540}{c:644}{c:645}",
  "stated_justification": "\"his father was a Pakistani national, and Pakistani nationals are not eligible for such status\"{c:540}",
  "effect_on_reporting": "The cancellation ended Taseer's ability to enter India on his Overseas Citizen status, restricting a foreign-based journalist's access to the country whose government he had written about.{c:540}{c:644}{c:645}",
  "unknowns": "The sources reviewed do not report whether Taseer obtained an alternative visa to enter India afterward.",
  "status": "historical",
  "status_updated_on": "2026-09-22",
  "external_ids": {},
  "illustration_key": null,
  "pub_state": "published",
  "published_at": "2026-09-23T01:18:51Z",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-09-22",
  "next_review_on": "2026-12-22",
  "revision": 9,
  "created_at": "2026-09-23T01:18:45Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-09-23T02:21:46Z",
  "stage": "punish",
  "ladder_note": "India revoked a journalist's long-term immigration status months after his cover story criticized the prime minister; the White House ban withdrew building access, not legal status to enter the country.",
  "country_name": "India",
  "tactics": [
    "expulsion_and_visa_denial"
  ],
  "leader": {
    "slug": "narendra-modi",
    "name": "Narendra Modi",
    "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/narendra-modi"
  },
  "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2019-india-revokes-taseer-oci-status",
  "page_meta": {
    "published": "2026-09-23T01:18:51Z",
    "reviewed": "2026-09-22",
    "sources": 3,
    "status": "historical",
    "statusAsOf": "2026-09-22",
    "unknowns": "The sources reviewed do not report whether Taseer obtained an alternative visa to enter India afterward."
  },
  "actors": [
    {
      "slug": "narendra-modi",
      "name": "Narendra Modi",
      "kind": "person",
      "role": "other",
      "role_at_time": null,
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/actors/narendra-modi"
    }
  ],
  "outlets": [
    {
      "slug": "time-magazine",
      "name": "Time",
      "relation": "affected",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/outlets/time-magazine"
    }
  ],
  "journalists": [
    {
      "slug": "aatish-taseer",
      "name": "Aatish Taseer",
      "outlet": "time-magazine",
      "relation": "affected",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/journalists/aatish-taseer"
    }
  ],
  "cases": [],
  "related": [],
  "events": [],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": 540,
      "subject_type": "incident",
      "subject_id": 166,
      "field": "stated_justification",
      "value": "Ministry cites father's Pakistani nationality",
      "statement": "The government's stated legal basis for the cancellation.",
      "attribution": null,
      "source_id": 380,
      "evidence_quote": "Taseer was \"ineligible\" for such citizenship",
      "evidence_date": "2019-11-07",
      "method": "outlet_report",
      "verified_at": "2026-09-22",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "status": "current",
      "supersedes_id": null,
      "superseded_by": null,
      "supersede_reason": null,
      "batch_label": "seed-2026-09-22",
      "created_at": "2026-09-23T01:18:48Z",
      "source": {
        "id": 380,
        "url": "https://cpj.org/2019/11/indian-government-threatens-to-cancel-journalist-a/",
        "final_url": "https://cpj.org/2019/11/indian-government-threatens-to-cancel-journalist-a/",
        "title": "Indian government threatens to cancel journalist Aatish Taseer's overseas citizenship",
        "publisher": "Committee to Protect Journalists",
        "published_on": "2019-11-07",
        "link_state": "live",
        "link_state_since": "2026-09-22T12:00:00Z",
        "wayback_url": null,
        "wayback_saved_at": null
      },
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/claims/540"
    },
    {
      "id": 644,
      "subject_type": "incident",
      "subject_id": 166,
      "field": "action",
      "value": "Cancellation follows a Time cover story critical of Modi",
      "statement": "Link between the article and the government's notice.",
      "attribution": null,
      "source_id": 380,
      "evidence_quote": "criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a May cover story he wrote for Time magazine",
      "evidence_date": "2019-11-07",
      "method": "outlet_report",
      "verified_at": "2026-09-22",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "status": "current",
      "supersedes_id": null,
      "superseded_by": null,
      "supersede_reason": null,
      "batch_label": "seed-2026-09-22",
      "created_at": "2026-09-23T01:34:19Z",
      "source": {
        "id": 380,
        "url": "https://cpj.org/2019/11/indian-government-threatens-to-cancel-journalist-a/",
        "final_url": "https://cpj.org/2019/11/indian-government-threatens-to-cancel-journalist-a/",
        "title": "Indian government threatens to cancel journalist Aatish Taseer's overseas citizenship",
        "publisher": "Committee to Protect Journalists",
        "published_on": "2019-11-07",
        "link_state": "live",
        "link_state_since": "2026-09-22T12:00:00Z",
        "wayback_url": null,
        "wayback_saved_at": null
      },
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/claims/644"
    },
    {
      "id": 645,
      "subject_type": "incident",
      "subject_id": 166,
      "field": "action",
      "value": "CPJ says targeting immigration status shows intolerance of criticism",
      "statement": "CPJ's assessment of the government's action.",
      "attribution": null,
      "source_id": 380,
      "evidence_quote": "Targeting a journalist's immigration status after the publication of a critical article shows that the Bharatiya Janata Party is intolerant of criticism and freedom of the press",
      "evidence_date": "2019-11-07",
      "method": "outlet_report",
      "verified_at": "2026-09-22",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "status": "current",
      "supersedes_id": null,
      "superseded_by": null,
      "supersede_reason": null,
      "batch_label": "seed-2026-09-22",
      "created_at": "2026-09-23T01:34:20Z",
      "source": {
        "id": 380,
        "url": "https://cpj.org/2019/11/indian-government-threatens-to-cancel-journalist-a/",
        "final_url": "https://cpj.org/2019/11/indian-government-threatens-to-cancel-journalist-a/",
        "title": "Indian government threatens to cancel journalist Aatish Taseer's overseas citizenship",
        "publisher": "Committee to Protect Journalists",
        "published_on": "2019-11-07",
        "link_state": "live",
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        "wayback_url": null,
        "wayback_saved_at": null
      },
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/claims/645"
    },
    {
      "id": 713,
      "subject_type": "incident",
      "subject_id": 166,
      "field": "action",
      "value": "government cites provisional opinion to cancel OCI",
      "statement": "In a TIME essay, Aatish Taseer quoted the Indian government's notice stating its provisional opinion that his Overseas Citizen of India registration could be cancelled.",
      "attribution": null,
      "source_id": 459,
      "evidence_quote": "the Central government is of the provisional opinion that the registration as an OCI cardholder granted to Aatish Ali Taseer, may be cancelled",
      "evidence_date": "2019-11-07",
      "method": "outlet_report",
      "verified_at": "2026-09-22",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "status": "current",
      "supersedes_id": null,
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      "supersede_reason": null,
      "batch_label": "v3-second-sources-2026-09-22",
      "created_at": "2026-09-23T02:21:46Z",
      "source": {
        "id": 459,
        "url": "https://time.com/5721667/aatish-taseer-india-oci/",
        "final_url": null,
        "title": "I am Indian. Why is the Government Sending Me Into Exile?",
        "publisher": "TIME (Aatish Taseer essay)",
        "published_on": "2019-11-07",
        "link_state": "unchecked",
        "link_state_since": null,
        "wayback_url": null,
        "wayback_saved_at": null
      },
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/claims/713"
    }
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  "sources": [
    {
      "id": 380,
      "url": "https://cpj.org/2019/11/indian-government-threatens-to-cancel-journalist-a/",
      "final_url": "https://cpj.org/2019/11/indian-government-threatens-to-cancel-journalist-a/",
      "title": "Indian government threatens to cancel journalist Aatish Taseer's overseas citizenship",
      "publisher": "Committee to Protect Journalists",
      "published_on": "2019-11-07",
      "link_state": "live",
      "link_state_since": "2026-09-22T12:00:00Z",
      "wayback_url": null,
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    },
    {
      "id": 458,
      "url": "https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/india-revokes-overseas-citizenship-status-of-writer-who-penned-article-critical-of?ai-allowed=1",
      "final_url": null,
      "title": "India revokes overseas citizenship status of writer who penned article critical of PM Modi",
      "publisher": "The Straits Times",
      "published_on": "2019-11-07",
      "link_state": "unchecked",
      "link_state_since": null,
      "wayback_url": null,
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    },
    {
      "id": 459,
      "url": "https://time.com/5721667/aatish-taseer-india-oci/",
      "final_url": null,
      "title": "I am Indian. Why is the Government Sending Me Into Exile?",
      "publisher": "TIME (Aatish Taseer essay)",
      "published_on": "2019-11-07",
      "link_state": "unchecked",
      "link_state_since": null,
      "wayback_url": null,
      "wayback_saved_at": null
    }
  ],
  "revisions_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2019-india-revokes-taseer-oci-status/revisions",
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  },
  "cite_as": "India: journalist Aatish Taseer's overseas citizenship revoked. The War On News, thewaronnews.com. https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2019-india-revokes-taseer-oci-status. Retrieved 2026-09-23."
}