E-Paper
Stuck in India due to lockdown, 179 Pak nationals to return via Wagah today
This is the fifth batch of citizens from the neighbouring country whose repatriation is being facilitated by the ministry of external affairs on the request of the Pakistan High Commission since the lockdown came into force
As many as 179 Pakistan nationals, who were stranded in various part of India due to the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus, will return home through the Attari-Wagah border on Wednesday.
This is the fifth batch of citizens from the neighbouring country whose repatriation is being facilitated by the ministry of external affairs on the request of the Pakistan High Commission since the lockdown came into force.
These people, including Hindus who had come to India to meet their relatives and on pilgrimage visas, will be allowed to cross over to Pakistan after conducting their thermal screening. Of these, 10 were stranded in Gujarat, 36 in Maharashtra, 40 in Madhya Pradesh, 47 in Chhattisgarh, 12 in Delhi, 2 in Punjab, 14 in Rajasthan, 2 in Uttarakhand and 16 in Utter Pradesh.
On Tuesday, 23 of them reached Amritsar by air from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
“I along with my friend had come to Surat (Gujarat) to meet our friends and relatives on March 12. Our visa was for one month. After the borders were closed due to the pandemic, we got stuck. Now, we are thankful to the Indian government for facilitating our return. After around two-and-a-half months, we will be able to meet our families,” said Aun Ali (35), a resident of Karachi in Sindh province.
Naresh Kumar (45), a resident of Jacobabad city in Sindh, had come to visit their relatives at Indore in MP along with his wife, son and daughter. “We came to India on March 3. We were also planning to go to Delhi and UP, but were forced to stay at our relatives’ house. We will come again once the coronavirus is gone,” he said.
A senior Land Port Authority of India (LPAI) official posted at the ICP said, “They will be screened by a special team of doctors.”
Earlier on May 5, as many as 193 Pakistani citizens had returned home. Nearly 300 Indians are also stranded in Pakistan and the process of their repatriation has been started, it is learnt.
