Pahalgama attack aftermath: Pakistan shuts Wagah gate, leaves its citizens stranded

ATTARI: Pakistan refused Thursday to open the gates at Wagah border put up throughout Punjab’s Attari, leaving dozens of its individuals and people deported from India stranded within the no-man’s-land of diplomatic impasse.
No Pakistani nationals had been allowed to cross the border, Indian officers stated, although Afghan vans had been granted entry into India. Pakistan’s international ministry cited “brotherly relations” with Afghanistan for the exception, highlighting the selective nature of the border motion.
Pakistan had allowed its nationals to return till April 29, however by Thursday, the gates remained closed, deepening a standoff that has left households torn between two international locations – compelled to bear the implications of a visa suspension following the April 20 terrorist attack in Pahalgam.
Among them had been two aged sisters, not sure of the place they belong – or the place they’re going to be allowed to go. For Saeeda Sagir Fatima and Saeeda Jameer Fatima, born in Lahore however lengthy settled in Srinagar, the closed gate got here as a reprieve from what they feared can be a compelled exile.
The two, bodily frail and clutching baggage packed for a one-way journey, had lived in India for over 40 years after coming into legally with passports and visas.
Despite years of appeals and a court docket order, their purposes for Indian citizenship had been denied. Saeeda Sagir, who’s bodily disabled, wept.
“Who will take us in there?” she requested, referring to Pakistan. “May our final breath be on Indian soil, and may we be laid to rest here.”
Just yards away, the identical closed gate introduced anguish to 2 Indian sisters. Sharmin and Shakeela, who dwell in Karachi after marrying Pakistani males greater than a decade in the past, had been unable to return dwelling. They had travelled to India on March 27 to see their critically ailing mom and had been informed they may re-enter Pakistan on May 1.
“It was surprising and shocking to find out that the border gates were closed,” Sharmin stated. Holding Indian passports and accompanied by their youngsters, the sisters waited helplessly. Their brother Mohammad Shariq, who got here to bid them farewell, stated their lives – and their households – had been rooted throughout the border areas.
Adding to the uncertainty, a gaggle of Pakistani labourers, largely Hindus who had been working in Rajasthan, additionally awaited return. They had been instructed to go away India after the Pahalgam attack, regardless of having no hyperlinks to the violence.
“We came here for finding work, not trouble,” stated Ganesh, one of many labourers. “Now we are being sent back to nothing. As minorities in Pakistan, our lives are harder than ever.”
Local porters and Sikh volunteers from a close-by gurdwara stepped in to assist, providing langar – free meals and water – to these stranded on the border.