Hopes rekindle for 700 Indians stranded in Pakistan

Nagpur: In Karachi, Aslam Mukhtar and Abdul Sait from Tamil Nadu are finally looking forward to reach their homes in Ambur and Chennai, respectively, and Deepak Bajaj, who lost his father after being stranded in Pakistan due to lockdown, also hopes to reunite with his wife and children in Pune.
The long wait finally appears to be over for nearly 700 Indian nationals stranded in Pakistan. They include people from Jammu & Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, who had gone to Pakistan on visit visas.
On Friday, night some of the stranded nationals got an e-mail from Indian embassy which reads, “the Indian high commission has requested the Pakistani minister of foreign affairs to open the Wagah border. A final confirmation is awaited from the Pakistani side”.
It further says that the border will be open only on June 23. The Indian nationals have been asked to remain present there on that date. They will be quarantined for 14 days in India after return. The mail has quickly got circulated among several others.
Earlier, as Vande Bharat flights evacuated Indians stranded in other countries, including bordering Bangladesh, there was no official word for those held up in Pakistan. Requests to the Indian embassy to be allowed to cross over the border got vague replies. On the other hand, the Pakistani citizens stranded in India were promptly taken back from the Wagah border by their government.
“They have sent us a mail but it’s not a final confirmation yet. Hope everything works out well in the end,” said Aslam. His wife Mehjabeen is from Pakistan. Originally from Tamil Nadu, her family had migrated to Karachi. She got Indian citizenship in 2005 after marriage.
If it brings a good news for Indian passport holders, the wait continues for those hoping to get Indian citizenship one day. Mostly Hindus from the Sindh province are among others stranded in Pakistan. Not Indian nationals but they had been living in the country for a decade or even more on long-term visas (LTV).
They had been on brief visit to Pakistan under a special arrangement called no-objection return to India (NORI) visas, which are valid for three months. There is no news for them yet. They were hoping to get citizenship under CAA. As their stay has extended beyond three months due to lockdown, many may not qualify for CAA.
Amarta Haswani, who is on LTV, has left behind her three-year-old daughter in Aurangabad. “My only demand is that even those on NORI visa should be allowed to cross the border so that I can be with my daughter,” she said.
TOI had reported about the plight of Indian nationals and also those on visit on NORI visas like Gurcharan Mandia in Shikarpur who says even he has left his three and six-year-old children behind.
Rajesh Jhambia, president of Sindhi Hindi Panchayat, said efforts were taken by Indore MP Sanjay Lalawani for the evacuation which have helped. “We have also been verbally assured that once the 14-day quarantine period of Indian national is over, those on NORI visas will be brought back too,” he said.