Attari-Wagah border between India and Pakistan completely shut
The Attari-Wagah border crossing point between India and Pakistan was shut completely on Thursday and no one from either country crossed over to the other side
A BSF personnel guards at the Integrated Check Post near
the Attari-Wagah border, in Amritsar district, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (PTI
Photo/Shiva Sharma)
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, sources said.
The Attari-Wagah border crossing point is completely
closed now and no one from either country crossed over to the other side on
Thursday, two sources confirmed.
A total of 125 Pakistani nationals left India on
Wednesday through the Attari-Wagah border, taking the total number of
Pakistanis leaving the country to 911 in the last seven days.
Similarly, 152 Indian nationals and 73 Pakistani
nationals with long-term Indian visa have entered India through the
international border crossing point in Punjab's Amritsar district, taking the
total number of such people to 1,617 and 224, respectively.
The Centre issued the 'Leave India' notice to Pakistani
nationals after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed by terrorists with
Pakistan links in Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22.
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.
Attari-Wagah border between India and Pakistan completely sh
