E-Paper
Indians with Pakistani spouses not allowed to cross border
This even as 287 Pakistan nationals left India through the border after India set a 48-hour deadline for them to leave the country in wake of Pahalgam attack.
Several Indian women married to Pakistan nationals but holding Indian passports were left stranded at the Attari-Wagah border on Friday as Border Security Force (BSF) officials barred them from crossing the border to return to their husbands and in-laws.
This even as 287 Pakistan nationals left India through the border after the Centre set a 48-hour deadline for them to leave the country in wake of the Pahalgam terror attack. As many as 191 Indians also returned from the neighbouring country.
Among the stranded was Washin Jahangir, 38, who had come to India with her sister and two nieces about a month ago for asthma treatment. While Jahangir and her sister, whose in-laws stay in Karachi, could not cross the border, they sent their daughters, who are Pakistan nationals, back.
“My husbands and two sons are waiting for me across the border. I have been granted half nationality by Pakistan. I have all the documents, still I have been stopped,” said Jahangir.
She added that after learning of the 48-hour deadline, they rushed to Attari from Jodhpur in Rajasthan, spending around ₹1 lakh.
“We are distressed over the Pahalgam attack, but we have no link with the perpetrators. So why are we being harassed?” she asked.
Wajida Khan, also from Jodhpur in Rajasthan, who was also stopped by BSF authorities after seeing her Indian passport, said, “I was married in Pakistan 10 years ago. I have two children, aged 7 and 8, both Pakistan nationals. After I was stopped, I had to send them home alone.”
She added, “Those who killed innocents must be punished but ordinary people like us should not be harassed.”
As per sources, authorities on the other side of the border too did not let women carrying Pakistan passport cross over to India.
Meanwhile, those who had come from the neighbouring country for medical purposes were also disappointed. Fida Hussain, a Pakistan national who had come to India on April 22 for liver transplant at Delhi, said, “I had got my visa after a lot of struggles. The sudden turn-of-events has spoilt all my plans. I had spent a lot of money to come here for treatment. All of it has been wasted.”
