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Pakistan has left its citizens stranded at the Attari-Wagah border as the country refused to take them back amid heightened tensions with India over Pahalgam terror attack.
Pakistan leaves its citizens stranded (PTI Image)
Pakistan has left its citizens stranded at the Attari-Wagah crossing as the neighbouring country has completely closed its border at Wagah, officials said on Thursday.
In a relief to the Pakistanis, the Indian government had extended the time for the Pakistani nationals to leave India with proper documentation, however, the Pakistan government completely shut the Attari-Wagah border crossing point between the two countries today.
India had announced closing the border from April 30, however, it allowed the Pakistani nationals to return until further notice.
With the border shut, no one from either country crossed over to the other side on Thursday, sources told news agency PTI.
Two Indian sisters, married in Pakistan, attempted to cross the border, but they were denied entry into Pakistan due to the closure of the Wagah border.
“Somebody, please make me cross the border. I have to go to my child. What is our fault? Those who are separating us from our children, I pray they are separated from their children,” one of the sisters said, as she wept and cursed those responsible for it.
“Which law separates parents from their children? My children are crying there, I have to go there,” another sister said.
Those Pakistani nationals willing to cross the border since morning were left stranded and heartbroken as their own country refused to let them re-enter its soil.
#WATCH | Attari, Amritsar | Mohammad Shariq, whose sisters are married in Karachi, says, “I came here with my sisters at 6 am. The border opens at 10 am. At 11 am, we asked the officials, and they said our government has given the order and we are sending people from here, but… https://t.co/OjSYt6JjAQ pic.twitter.com/vcWd8hlUhy— ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2025
“I came here with my sisters at 6 am. The border opens at 10 am. At 11 am, we asked the officials, and they said our government has given the order and we are sending people from here, but they (Pakistani side) are not allowing them to cross the order. We are still waiting here,” Mohammad Shariq, whose sisters are married in Karachi, said.
On Wednesday, 125 Pakistani nationals left India via the Attari-Wagah border, bringing the total to 911 in a week. 15 Indians with Pakistani visas also crossed into Pakistan, raising that number to 23. Meanwhile, 152 Indians and 73 Pakistanis with long-term Indian visas entered India through Punjab’s Amritsar border, totaling 1,617 and 224, respectively. These movements follow the Indian government order after the terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam killed 26 people on April 22.
- Location :
Punjab, India, India
- First Published: