Chandigarh: Ensure exemplary punishment for the Pahalgam terror attack perpetrators but spare the regular folks from bearing the brunt. That was the common refrain among Pakistani visitors at the Attari-Wagah land route racing to exit India ahead of a short deadline.
India has announced that all visas issued to Pakistani nationals will be revoked from April 27 and advised Indians residing in Pakistan to return home at the earliest, as tensions between the two countries escalated over the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists.
Medical visas issued to Pakistani nationals are valid till April 29.
Most of the Pakistani nationals exiting through the told PTI that they had come to meet their kin in India. Some were here to attend weddings but now have to rush back home without participating.
“It was my niece’s wedding today. I came after 10 years but still couldn’t attend the ceremony,” said a visibly upset Baskari, a Karachi resident who had come to Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur along with her husband.
Her husband, Mohd Rasheed, said that they arrived in India on April 10 on a 45-day visa. “My wife was born in India, and my in-laws live here. The wedding was to take place in the Saharanpur district today. Police came to our relative’s home and asked us to leave immediately,” he said.
His wife said, “It is saddening to leave on the day of the wedding. Peace should prevail between the two nations.”
“Whatever happened in Pahalgam is wrong. Those behind it should be severely punished, but the common people should not have to face the brunt. People carrying out such acts have nothing to do with religion. Common people on both sides love each other. A handful of terrorists spoil the atmosphere,” Rasheed said.
Another Pakistani national heading back home said he was in India for his mother’s treatment and was lucky enough that it was over just a couple of days ago.
Bali Ram from Ghotki in Pakistan’s northern Sindh said he was visiting his three daughters in Raipur when the news of the attack broke. “I came on April 5 but now have to rush back. Those who carried out the act should be punished, but what in the fault of innocent tourists?”
Daulat from Karachi was in Jodhpur on a 45-day visa for a wedding. “Whatever happened (in Pahalgam) is not good. This should not have happened,” she said while dragging a few trolley suitcases towards the exit gate.
Muzammil strongly condemned the April 22 terrorist attack, saying that “they should be hanged”. An elderly man from Rawalpindi said he had come to Lucknow for a kin’s wedding but had to cut short the trip now.
On Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah 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.
After Shah’s telephonic conversations with the chief ministers, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan held a video conference with the chief secretaries of all the states and asked them to ensure that all Pakistani nationals whose visas were revoked must leave India by the fixed deadline.
As many as 229 Pakistani nationals visiting India have returned home so far through the Attari-Wagah land route after the Centre set the deadline. A total of 392 Indian nationals visiting the neighbouring nation also returned, officials said.
The already strained relations between India and Pakistan nosedived further after the Pahalgam terror attack, with New Delhi announcing a raft of retaliatory steps, including the cancellation of visas, and Islamabad hitting back with a string of tit-for-tat measures.
