Clamour at Attari-Wagah Crossing as Presumed Pakistani Nationals Stranded on Indian Side
Srinagar: The Attari-Wagah border crossing on Thursday (May 1) witnessed dramatic scenes as some 40 presumed Pakistani nationals, some of whom were brought from Jammu and Kashmir reportedly without valid documents, remained stranded on the Indian side.
According to reports, neither did any Indian citizen return via the border on Thursday nor did any Pakistani national cross over to the other side.
Among those stranded were a group of 16 Pakistani Hindus who had visited Haridwar, two women from Rajouri who were living in India since 1983 and a woman from Karachi facing separation from her child, who holds an Indian passport.
In a 77-second-long video shared by the IANS news agency, a group of men were seen filming with their mobile phones two anguished Pakistani women, one of whom was cradling a child in her arms at the Attari-Wagah border on Thursday.
The two women seemed distraught, with the closed border crossing – which is normally bustling with activity – visible in the background, wearing a barren look.
“We have come at six,” the woman with the child argued with a Border Security Force (BSF) trooper while a few other BSF personnel asked the men filming the incident to move back.
“You should have come when the government told you. I can’t help you,” the BSF man replied, even as the two women kept urging him to let them cross over to Pakistan.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had amended its notice that called for the closure of the border on May 1 to permit Pakistani nationals to continue to leave the country until further notice.
However, the fate of those who were not allowed to cross over to Pakistan on Thursday and the exact number of Pakistani nationals awaiting deportation remains uncertain.
The closure of the border crossing and the suspension of visa services were among the tit-for-tat measures taken by the two countries in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terrorist attack in the Anantnag district of south Kashmir in which 26 civilians, mostly tourists, were killed on April 22.
Pakistani nationals who had come to the country on tourist, medical or other visas, were ordered out by the MHA in the aftermath of the attack.
The ministry had however allowed Pakistani nationals with long-term permits to stay in the country.
A presumed Pakistani national, Abdul Waheed Bhat, who was living in Kashmir since the 1980s, passed away in a bus on Wednesday during the deportation process outside the integrated check post gate at the border crossing.
The Indian Express reported that Bhat was part of a group of 60 to 70 presumed Pakistani nationals who were ferried from Jammu and Kashmir to Punjab for deportation. He had been served a “notice to leave India” by the Foreigners' Registration Office in Srinagar on April 25 and passed away before the deportation process was completed.
It was not immediately known where he would be buried.
The paper reported that the Jammu and Kashmir police had brought some persons without passports or the necessary certificates from the Pakistani embassy in Delhi for deportation.
“We cannot deport people who lack either. It is still unclear whether Bhat had a Pakistani passport,” the paper quoted a source as saying.
The deportation of presumed Pakistani nationals from Jammu and Kashmir has evoked a sense of loss and grief in Jammu and Kashmir.
A recently married Kashmiri bride was among those who were taken to Wagah for deportation.
“My happiness has turned into mourning. My mother is crying relentlessly. Just yesterday my wife walked into her new home and now she is being sent back. What is our fault in this?,” Aamir Ahmad told the media at the border crossing, grieving over the prospective separation from his wife Hajra Mir, who hails from Rawalpindi.
According to reports, 125 Pakistani nationals crossed over to Pakistan on Wednesday, which has taken the total number since last Thursday to more than 700 before the border crossing was indefinitely closed.
On Tuesday, the Jammu and Kashmir high court halted the deportation of a resident of Poonch – Jammu and Kashmir police constable Iftkhan Ali – and his eight siblings, ruling that the petitioner “not be asked or forced to leave UT of Jammu & Kashmir” as “prima facie a case is made out” that they are not Pakistani citizens.
This article went live on May second, two thousand twenty five, at fifteen minutes past twelve at night.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
