In view of the decision of the Central Committee on Security (CCS) on the SAARC Visa Ban for Pakistani Nationals and instructions to those currently in India under this arrangement to must leave within 48 hours, 191 more Pakistani nationals have returned via Attari-Wagah Joint Check Post in Amritsar, today. Earlier, 28 were returned to Pakistan, yesterday. Sources have confirmed that 287 Indian Nationals have also come back from Pakistan to India.
A total of 287 Indian nationals, who were visiting the neighbouring country, have also returned, they added.
A few women married in Pakistan but possessing Indian passports alleged that they were facing problems in going back, despite carrying the required documents.
They said they had come to meet their relatives in India but had to return after the government set the 48-hour deadline for Pakistani nationals to leave the country.
Twenty-six people, mostly tourists, were killed and several injured when terrorists opened fire at a meadow near the popular tourist town of Pahalgam in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Tuesday afternoon.
The Centre on Wednesday announced a raft of measures, including expulsion of Pakistani military attaches, suspension of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 and immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post, in view of the cross-border links to the Pahalgam attack.
Foreign secretary Vikram Misri said Pakistani nationals will not be allowed to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) and any Pakistani national currently in India under the scheme had 48 hours to leave the country.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was announced at the meeting that the integrated check-post (ICP) at Attari will be closed immediately and those who crossed over to Pakistan with valid documents may return through that route before May 1.
The Centre on Thursday announced revoking all visas issued to Pakistani nationals from April 27 and advised Indian nationals residing in Pakistan to return home at the earliest as tensions between the two neighbours escalated following the Pahalgam attack.
It also announced suspending visa services to Pakistanis with immediate effect. Pakistani nationals continued to flock the Attari-Wagah border on Friday.