- Tuesday, April 29, 2025
At Wagah, Pakistan Rangers and Border Security Force thoroughly check the papers of the repatriated citizens before allowing them to proceed with immigration
By: India Weekly
THE TRAVEL curbs after the April 22 Pahalgam attack have come as a bolt from the blue for Indians travelling to Pakistan and vice versa, as they were forced to cut short their visits because of the cancellation of visas.
More than 1,000 Indians have left Pakistan via the Wagah border, and more than 800 Pakistanis have returned by Monday, a Pakistani official told PTI in Lahore on Monday (28).
He claimed that those possessing long-term visas from both countries are facing problems in repatriation.
On Sunday, 236 Pakistanis returned home and 115 Indians crossed into their homeland.
At Wagah, Pakistan Rangers and India’s Border Security Force thoroughly checked the papers of the repatriated citizens before allowing them to proceed with immigration.
After the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people, India’s Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) decided to close the Integrated Check Post at Attari with immediate effect.
The Attari-Wagah border is located near Amritsar in India and Lahore in Pakistan.
New Delhi cancelled SAARC visa privileges to visiting respective nationals, a step soon followed by Islamabad.
At the Attari border, vehicles queued up as Pakistani nationals hurried to cross over to their country.
Many Indians came to bid farewell to their relatives, the pain of separation evident on their faces.
Sarita and her family had come to India for a relative’s wedding set for April 29. “We came to India after nine years,” she said.
She, her brother and her father are Pakistanis while her mother is an Indian national.
“They (the authorities at Attari) are telling us they will not allow my mother to go along. My parents got married in 1991. They are saying Indian passport holders will not be allowed,” said Sarita, crying bitterly.
Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) and any such visas issued in the past to Pakistani nationals are deemed cancelled.
In Pakistan, individuals holding long-term visas, Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) and those with ‘No Objection to Return to India’ stamps were denied border crossing.
The Ministry of External Affairs said all existing valid visas issued by India to Pakistani nationals stand revoked with effect from April 27 and added that the medical visas issued to Pakistani nationals will be valid only till April 29.
Islamabad retaliated by closing the Wagah border post, cancelled SVES visas given to Indians and asked military advisers at the Indian High Commission to leave.
“All cross-border transit from India through this route shall be suspended, without exception. Those who have crossed with valid endorsements may return through that route immediately but not later than April 30,” Pakistan said.
Indian Home Minister Amit Shah had called up the chief ministers of all the states and asked them to ensure that no Pakistani stays in India beyond the deadline set for leaving the country.
The chief ministers were also told to identify the Pakistani nationals staying in their respective areas and ensure their deportation, the sources said.
The government on April 25 revoked 14 categories of visas, including those of business, conference, visitor and pilgrim, given to Pakistani nationals.
Hindu Pakistanis worried
The revocation of visas does not apply to the long-term visas already issued to Hindu Pakistani nationals, which “remain valid”.
However, Pakistani Hindu refugees staying at Delhi’s Majnu Ka Tila are anxious about their status despite government assurances.
Delhi Police officials said that a verification drive has been launched, but they will ensure that no one is harassed unnecessarily.
Many refugees say they are worried about their fate as their visas are renewed every two years.
It also depends on police reporting every year at the place where the Pakistan/Bangladesh/Afghanistan national is allowed to stay on long-term visas.
While many Pakistani Hindus living in Majnu-ka-Tilla have obtained Indian Citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, there are also several others whose applications are still pending for the same.
Sona Das, president of the Hindu refugee community at Majnu Ka Tila, said several families have been living in Delhi for years, renewing their visas periodically after document verification by authorities.
“Also, many of these families crossed over from Pakistan just one or two months ago, some are living in camps near Majnu Ka Tila, while others have taken shelter under the Signature Bridge,” Das told PTI.
Prime minister Narendra Modi said last week that India will “identify, track, and punish” every terrorist and their “backers” involved in the Pahalgam carnage and pursue the killers to the “ends of the earth”.
Pakistani wives
In Kashmir, the Pakistani wives of ex-militants rehabilitated in the state have asserted they would rather die than return to their old country.
The Pakistani women, who had come to Kashmir under the 2010 rehabilitation policy for former ultras, have pleaded with the government to allow them to stay or send them in “body bags.”
Alyza Rafiq, married to an ex-militant, came to Kashmir in 2013 under the then-chief minister Omar Abdullah’s policy that enabled the rehabilitation of ultras who had gone to Pakistan or Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir for arms training, but abjured violence and wanted to return to the valley.
Living at present in this north Kashmir district, Rafiq said police have told her to leave the country.
“We have been asked to leave the country. I have three children. They have told me to leave my youngest daughter here. She is little, how can I leave her here!” Rafiq told PTI.
“How can I leave my husband here. I have built a house here. We came here because of the government’s policy … What have we done? What is our fault in this? We have an election card, Aadhar card. I have voted in elections,” she said.
Zahida Begum, another such Pakistani woman, said she wants to live in peace, in Kashmir.
“Police have asked me to leave. I do not want to go back. I have two daughters, Maryam and Aamna. My son, Faizan, is 10 and they are telling me to keep him here. I do not want to go back, please forgive me. I want to live here,” she said.
Begum showed up her domicile certificate, Aadhar, election card, and ration card, which she said were issued by the government.
“It will ruin the lives of my children. I have been living here for 15 years, I have lived a good life and I want to live in peace. Even my children do not want to go back,” she said. (PTI)
