NEW DELHI: The Attari-Wagah border crossing point between India and Pakistan was shut completely on Thursday following a week-long heavy rush of people from either side to cross over after the Union government ordered all Pakistani citizens with short-term visa to leave India in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.
Even as sources confirmed the shutting of the border crossing, uncertainty prevailed at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Attari on Thursday as Pakistani nationals from across India gathered to cross over to Pakistan, only to find the border gates shut, despite the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) having extended the deportation deadline.
The confusion was compounded by the fact that no Indian national returned from the other side either.
Dozens of Pakistani nationals, men, women and children, had arrived at Attari from Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Delhi and other states, expecting to return to their country.
However, the gates of the ICP remained closed, and authorities did not permit their passage.
This came a day after the deadline for Pakistani nationals to return had officially lapsed.
Although the MHA had amended its earlier directive, which had ordered the closure of the border on May 1, and allowed Pakistani nationals to leave India via Attari until further notice, no movement was seen from either side.
A Delhi resident, Mohammad Shariq, whose sisters are married in Karachi, said the Pakistani side was not allowing them to cross.
“I came here with my sisters early in the morning. The border opens at 10 am. When we asked the officials, they said our government has given the order and we are sending people from here, but Pakistani authorities are not allowing them to cross over,” he said.
The Attari border has witnessed a heavy rush in recent days following the Union Government’s order directing all Pakistani nationals on short-term visas to leave India in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.
Over the past week, 911 Pakistani nationals have departed India, including 125 who left on Wednesday.
Sources said many of the Pakistani nationals were escorted by local police. Murawat Hussain Shah, who came from Rajouri, accompanied his cousins Saida Zameer Fatima and Saida Saheer Fatima, both of whom are being deported.
He said, “My cousins came to India in 1983 on valid visas after the death of their father and brother. Now, they have nobody in Pakistan. Everything they have is in India; they do not want to leave.”
In another case, 16 Pakistani Hindu nationals who had come to Haridwar for post-death rituals of their elders failed to reach the border on time after their taxi broke down.
A Pakistani woman from Karachi, whose four-year-old child holds an Indian passport, also found herself in a fix. “Either I should be allowed to stay here with my child or let my son accompany me to Pakistan,” she said.
The deadline for exiting India for those holding SAARC visas was April 26.
For those carrying medical visas, the deadline was April 29.
The deadline for 12 other categories of visas was April 27.
These were visas on arrival and visas for business, film, journalists, transit, conferences, mountaineering, students, visitors, group tourists, pilgrims and group pilgrims.
Three defence/military, naval and air advisors in the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi were declared persona non grata on April 23 and were given one week to leave India.
Five support staff of these defence attaches were also asked to leave India.
India also withdrew its defence attache from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
However, those having long-term, diplomatic or official visas were exempted from the 'Leave-India' order.
Sources told PTI that altogether 125 Pakistani nationals left India through the Attari-Wagah border crossing point on April 30; a total of 94 Pakistani nationals, including 10 diplomats, left India on April 29; 145 Pakistanis, including 36 diplomats, their dependents and support staff, left on April 28; 237 Pakistanis, including nine diplomats and officials, left India on April 27; 81 left on April 26; 191 on April 25 and 28 on April 24.
Fifteen Indian nationals with Pakistani visa also left India through the international border crossing point on April 30 while eight Indians left India on April 29, the sources said.
Similarly, 152 Indian nationals crossed over to India from Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah border crossing on April 30; 469 Indians, including 11 diplomats and officials, returned from Pakistan through the same route on April 29; 146 Indians returned on April 28; 116 Indians, including one diplomat, returned on April 27; 342 Indians, including 13 diplomats and officials, came back on April 26; 287 Indians crossed over from Pakistan on April 25 and 105 Indians returned on April 24, the sources said.
A total of 73 Pakistani nationals with long-term Indian visas came to the country through the border point on April 30; 22 Pakistani nationals came on April 29, while 129 Pakistanis with the same category of visas entered India on April 28.
Sources said some of the Pakistanis might have left India through airports too, pointing out that since India does not have direct air connectivity with Pakistan, they might have left for a third country.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on April 25 called up the chief ministers of all states and asked them to ensure that no Pakistani stays in India beyond the deadline set for leaving the country.
After Shah's telephonic conversations with the chief ministers, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan also held a videoconferencing with the chief secretaries of states and asked them to ensure that all Pakistani nationals whose visas were revoked leave India before the deadline.
The already-strained relations between India and Pakistan nosedived further after the horrific Pahalgam terror attack, with New Delhi announcing a raft of measures, including the cancellation of visas, against Islamabad, which hit back with a string of tit-for-tat measures.
