Pakistan on Friday reopened the Attari-Wagah border to allow its citizens to return home who were stranded on the Indian side following the revocation of the short-term visas by the Indian government.
The move to revoke the short-term visas came after the deadly terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam where 26 civilians were killed.
Pakistan reopened the border crossing nearly after 24 hours of silence during which several of its nationals were left in limbo in India despite New Delhi’s readiness to facilitate their return, reported India Today.
The border remained closed on Thursday leaving several Pakistani citizens stranded on the Indian side. The closure came after a week of chaotic cross-border movement after India asked all Pakistani citizens on visas in India to leave the country after the April 22 attack.
On Wednesday, a total of 125 Pakistani nationals left India through the Attari-Wagah border, taking the total number of Pakistanis leaving the country to 911 in the last seven days.
Fifteen Indian nationals with Pakistani visa also crossed over to Pakistan on Wednesday taking the total number of such people exiting India to 23.
Likewise, 152 Indian nationals and 73 Pakistani nationals with long-term visas entered India through the international border on Punjab’s Amritsar r district, taking the total number of such people to 1,617 and 224, respectively.
People who visited India through SAARC visas were asked to leave the country till April 26 while for those on medical visas, the dedaline was April 29.
The deadline for 12 other categories of visas was April 27 which included visas on arrival for business, film, journalists, transit, conferences, mountaineering, students, visitors, group tourists, pilgrims and group pilgrims.
In response to the deadly attack, India took steps on the diplomatic level as well and three defence/military, naval and air advisors in the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi were declared persona non grata on April 23.
They were given a week to leave India and five support staff of these defence attaches were also asked to leave the country.
