Pahalgam: Pakistan opens Wagah border gate, takes back its stranded citizens

Pakistan reopened the Attari-Wagah border on Friday, allowing its citizens stuck in India to return home after their short-term visas were cancelled in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.

The move came after nearly a day of silence from Islamabad, during which many Pakistanis — including the elderly and those visiting family — were left stranded on Indian soil despite New Delhi’s willingness to send them back.

Sources said to News18 that while India allowed Pakistani nationals to reach the border, they couldn’t cross over—possibly because Islamabad refused to take them back. However, Pakistan gave no official reason for not allowing its citizens to return.

In response to the Pahalgam attack in which Pakistan based terrorist killed 26 innocent tourists, the Indian government asked Pakistani nationals with short-term tourist and medical visas to leave the country. However, those with long-term permits and Hindus of Pakistani origin were allowed to stay.

125 Pakistanis left India through the Attari-Wagah border on Wednesday, bringing the total number of departures in the past week to 911. Later, the border was completely closed by the Pakistani sides.

The Pahalgam attack, one of the worst in Jammu and Kashmir since the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing, killed at least 26 people, including a Nepali citizen, and injured many others. The Resistance Front (TRF), a group linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility.

In addition to cancelling visas, India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, closed its airspace to Pakistani flights, and banned the social media accounts of Pakistani nationals.