An Indian woman was allegedly stopped at the Attari-Wagah border point in Punjab from crossing into Pakistan after the Centre ordered Pakistani nationals to leave in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
The woman, Sana, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Meerut who is married to a Pakistani citizen, was stopped because she had an Indian passport, while her children, a three-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter, were told to leave as they had Pakistani passports.
The 30-year-old was among the short-term visa holders who were ordered to leave India by Sunday.
Sana, who got married to Bilal, a doctor in Karachi, in 2020, had recently come to her hometown to meet her parents.
Sana said she was told by the officials to leave the country when the Centre issued a notice, asking Pakistani nationals to return after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists in Pahalgam on April 22.
Accompanied by her family members, she then left for the Attari-Wagah border with her children on Friday. She, however, was stopped and told to return to Meerut because of her Indian passport. The officials maintained that the children, who had Pakistani passports, will have to return.
This put Sana in a quandary. Realising the enormity of the situation, she started crying. Sana and her family saw that there were many other cases like theirs, with children bidding farewell to their mothers and crossing the border alone to their fathers.
"My children can't stay here and I can't go there," she told reporters.
"My husband had also come to the border to receive us," she said.
The family told the officials at the border about their situation: that the children were too young to be without their mother. The officials sent Sana back to Meerut and asked her to wait for fresh government orders.
Sana said this was her second trip to India after her marriage, with the first one being about 3 years ago.
Calling for the "strictest" punishment for those behind the Pahalgam attack, she appealed to the government to let her and her children go to Pakistan.
More than 250 Pakistani nationals have left India in the past two days through the Attari-Wagah border point, an official said.
The deadline for the 12 categories of short-term visa holders of the neighbouring nation ends on Sunday. 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.
The deadline for leaving India for those holding SAARC visas was Saturday. For those carrying medical visas, it is April 29.
(With inputs from Shyam Parmar)
