New Delhi, Apr 27: As many as 509 Pakistani nationals, including nine diplomats and officials, left India in three days beginning Friday through the Attari-Wagah border point as the exit deadline for the 12 categories of short-term visa holders of the neighbouring nation ended Sunday, officials said.
A total of 745 Indians, including 14 diplomats and officials, have returned from Pakistan through the international border crossing located in Punjab.
The ‘Leave India’ notice to the Pakistani nationals was issued by the government after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22.
Officials told PTI that altogether 237 Pakistani nationals, including nine diplomats and officials, left India through the Attari-Wagah border post on Sunday, 81 Pakistani nationals left on April 26 and 191 on April 25.
Similarly, 116 Indians, including one diplomat, returned from Pakistan on Sunday through the international land border crossing, 342 Indians, including 13 diplomats and officials, came back from Pakistan on April 26 and 287 Indians crossed over on April 25, officials said.
Some of the Pakistanis might have left India through airports too, they said, pointing out that since India does not have direct air connectivity with Pakistan, they might have left for other countries.
The deadline for exiting India for those holding SAARC visas was April 26. For those carrying medical visas, the deadline is April 29.
The 12 categories of visas whose holders have to leave India by Sunday are — visa on arrival, business, film, journalist, transit, conference, mountaineering, student, visitor, group tourist, pilgrim and group pilgrim.
Three Defence/Military, Naval and Air Advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi have been declared Persona Non Grata and they were given one week to leave India.
Five support staff of these defence attaches were also asked to leave India.
India has also withdrawn its defence attache from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. However, those having long-term and diplomatic or official visas were exempted from the ‘Leave-India’ order.
At the Attari border in Amritsar district, vehicles queued up as Pakistani nationals hurried to cross over to their country. Many Indians came to bid farewell to their relatives, the pain of separation evident on their faces.
Sarita and her family had come to India for a kin’s wedding set for April 29. “We came to India after nine years.”
She, her brother and her father are Pakistanis while her mother is an Indian national. “They (the authorities at Attari) are telling us they will not allow my mother to go along. My parents got married in 1991. They are saying Indian passport holders will not be allowed,” she said, crying bitterly.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said all Pakistanis have been accounted for and arrangements are being made to deport the people whose visas have been revoked as per the Centre’s directives.
State minister Yogesh Kadam on Saturday said the 1,000 Pakistani nationals with short-term visas have been asked to leave India.
Around 5,050 Pakistani citizens have been living in Maharashtra and most of them are on long-term visas, officials said.
The Bihar government said that all Pakistani nationals, who had been to the state in the recent past, have left well ahead of the April 27 deadline.
In the southern state of Telangana, police chief Jitender cited official records to say that as many as 208 Pakistani nationals were staying in the state, mostly in Hyderabad.
Among them, 156 hold long-term visas, 13 short-term visas and 39 were with the travel document for medical and business purposes.
There were 104 Pakistani nationals in the southern coastal state of Kerala, of whom 99 were on long-term visas.
The remaining five, who were on either tourist or medical visas, have left the country.
Central India’s Madhya Pradesh had around 228 visiting Pakistani nationals, many of whom have left the country already, officials said.
On the other hand, around 12 Pakistanis have been identified in Odisha and all of them have been asked to follow the deadline set for them to leave the country.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said three Pakistani nationals, who were in the state on short-term visas, have been asked to leave.
Seven Pakistanis were in Gujarat on short-term visas — five in Ahmedabad and one each in Bharuch and Vadodara. They have either left India or are leaving by Sunday, officials said.
Besides, 438 Pakistani nationals are in the western state on long-term visas and they include Hindus who have applied for Indian citizenship.
In the north, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Prashant Kumar said on Saturday that the process of sending back all categories of Pakistani citizens visiting the state who have been ordered to leave India has been completed. One Pakistani national is still in the state and he will depart for Pakistan on April 30, the DGP said.
As many as 19 Pakistani nationals staying in Bihar with short-term visas have left the country.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday 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 held a video conference with the chief secretaries and asked them to ensure that all Pakistani nationals whose visas were revoked must leave India by the deadline fixed.
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.–(PTI)
