Stories from Attari border

CHANDIGARH/BHOPAL/JAIPUR/RAIPUR: The stalemate over visa cancellations post-Pahalgam attack ended on Tuesday, with 70 Pakistan national women possessing long-term visas and No Obligation to Return to India (NORI) certificates permitted to cross over into India at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at the Attari border.

Initially, the Centre revoked all visas issued to Pakistan nationals visiting India. As a result, spouses of Indian citizens with Pakistani passports faced an emotional situation; those currently visiting or residing in India had to return to Pakistan, leaving their children behind if the latter were Indian citizens. Indian nationals currently visiting Pakistan could return to India but not with their children if the latter held Pakistan passports.

However, the Centre revised the visa guidelines allowing those on Long-Term Visas to stay in the country. So, on Tuesday, Pakistani immigration authorities allowed women holding Pakistani passports and married to Indian nationals and having NORI certificates and long-term visas to cross over to India, sources said.

In total, 240 people from Pakistan, including more than 70 NORI visa holders, entered India, and 140 people from India returned to Pakistan via the Attari border.

Vignettes from Attari

Family members waiting at the border post were relieved after the decision. Dr Vikram Udasi, from Jalgaon, Maharashtra, had been waiting at the Attari border since April 25 to receive his wife Priya, a Pakistani national, and child Ahan, who were in Pakistan visiting family.

They were reunited after both crossed over. “Finally, after the long wait, I have met my wife and child, and now we are returning to our home town. She has been on a Long-Term Visa for the past eight years, which is valid until 2026,” he said.

Rishi Kumar from Kolhapur in Maharashtra, was equally happy. He was waiting for his wife and children at the Attari border for the last few days. His wife hails from Balochistan, a Pakistani national, while her two children are Indians. The three went to Pakistan to visit family. She was ultimately allowed to return to India along with her children.

Edge of uncertainty

In Madhya Pradesh, the fate of nine children with Pakistani passports and short-term visas hangs in balance. The state government has sought the Centre’s advice on nine children born to Pakistani fathers and Indian mothers, who are now with their mothers.

The kids are between one year and 11 years of age. Four, aged between four and seven, are with their mother in their maternal home Indore, three others in Jabalpur and two in Bhopal.

In the Jabalpur case, the mother brought the children on short-term visas last month because of financial difficulties, as their father was unemployed in Pakistan.

“There were 14 Pakistani nationals in MP, including the nine children with their Indian mothers in Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur. Also, a young man (from the Sindhi community) was on a short-term visa in Bhopal. He had applied for a long-term visa just a few hours before the Centre ordered the revoking of 14 categories of visas and asked those Pakistani nationals to leave India by April 27. We’ve sought the central government’s advice and guidance in all these cases of the 10 Pakistani nationals, including the nine kids,” a senior state police officer told this newspaper on Tuesday.

Three of the 14 Pakistani nationals who had to leave the country by April 27 have already left and crossed the international border into Pakistan.

In the case of a six-year-old kid, a Pakistani national, who had come with the Indian mother to the maternal grandparents’ place in Indore, the matter of both going to Pakistan is reportedly being looked into by the Foreigners Registration Office in Delhi.

The Centre revoked the 14 categories of visas on April 25 in the wake of the ghastly April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, and Pakistan nationals who were in India on such visas were asked to leave the country by April 27.

In a communication to all state governments, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), however, added that the order would not apply to Long-Term Visa (LTV) holders besides diplomatic and official visa holders Pakistani nationals.

Who stay, who don’t

In Rajasthan, security agencies have deported 129 of the 400 Pakistani nationals residing in the state. According to official sources, 109 individuals were sent back by April 27, and an additional 20 were deported on April 28. However, several others currently remain untraceable, and efforts are underway to locate them.

In a parallel development, after the Centre said in an updated directive that Long-Term Visa holders are not required to leave the country, 362 Pakistan nationals in Rajasthan have had their LTVs approved and formally registered in the last three days. Officials clarified that applicants whose LTV cases are pending or under consideration are exempt from deportation.

Notably, Pakistani Muslim women married to Indian citizens and residing in India on LTVs are also not being asked to return to Pakistan under the revised rules.

A significant number of Pakistani refugees, especially Hindus, have settled in the border districts of Rajasthan, including Jaisalmer, Barmer, and particularly Jodhpur. In many cases, families have been split due to cross-border marriages—where one half of the family is in India while the other remains in Pakistan or faces pressure to return.

In at least three to four reported instances, mothers hold passports from one country, while their children have obtained citizenship in another, typically due to birth circumstances. These families now face the emotional and logistical burden of separation until new regulations are introduced or the situation stabilises.

Fate of a few

In Chhattisgarh, the Raigarh police have arrested two Pakistani citizens who acquired Indian voter identity cards through fraudulent means and by providing fake information.

The district police said Iftekhar Sheikh (29) and Armish Sheikh (25) are brother and sister. The duo stayed in the Kodatarai area of Raigarh district, about 230 km east of Raipur.

Additional SP (Raigarh) told this newspaper, “Their father, Yakub Sheikh, is Indian and stays in Raigarh. He married a Pakistani woman who died during the Covid-19 pandemic. The two children were born in Pakistan but were raised and schooled in India.

Both are here on valid Long-Term Visas, and, at present, they can’t be deported. But they furnished wrong information and procured Indian voter ID cards, following which a case has been registered against them.”

The police had launched a drive to ensure no Pakistan nationals were found staying illegally in the district, and “both the Pakistan nationals were traced during the intensive verification campaign,” said Jutemill police station in-charge Prashant Rao.

The police have registered the case against both under sections 199, 200 (false statement made in declaration), 419 (cheating by impersonation), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery to cheat) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.

Fate of nine children in MP hangs on the edge

In Madhya Pradesh, the fate of nine children with Pakistani passports and short-term visas hangs in balance. The state government has sought the Centre’s advice on nine children born to Pakistani fathers and Indian mothers, who are now with their mothers. The kids are between one year and 11 years of age. Four, aged between four and seven, are with their mother in their maternal home Indore.

362 Pak nationals in Raj get LTVs approved in 3 days

After the Union government said in an updated directive that Long-Term Visa holders are not required to leave the country, 362 Pakistan nationals in Rajasthan have had their Long-Term Visas approved and formally registered in the last three days. Officials clarified that applicants whose LTV cases are pending or under consideration are exempt from deportation.