Lahore:
In the midst of increasing tensions between Pakistan and India, the deadline granted by the Indian authorities for Pakistani citizens to leave India has expired. In the past three days, 536 Pakistanis returned home, while 849 Indian nationals found themselves in India from Pakistan.
Despite the current exodus, the question concerning Pakistani and Indian citizens with long -term visas is not resolved. Families on both sides of the border continue to wait with anxiety, hoping for a safe return home.
Only Sunday, 236 Pakistanis returned from India, while 115 Indian nationals returned home from Pakistan. Cumulatively, 536 Pakistanis and 849 Indians have crossed the borders in the last three days.
However, the situation has become more and more complicated for people who married the borders – of Pakistani citizens married to Indians and vice versa. Many of these people, currently separated from their families, face serious difficulties in returning due to current political tensions.
Sources in the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Indian citizens have married in Pakistan, holding Pakistani visas in the long-term but currently blocked in India, must approach the Pakistani High Commissioner of New Delhi to ask for help. However, it ultimately depends on the Indian authorities, that they allow the return of their passport holders to Pakistan.
Distress scenes are obvious at the Attari and Wagah borders. In Attari, several Indian women married to Pakistani men, as well as their children, await reunification. Conversely, in Wagah, Pakistani women whose husbands and children are Indian nationals, are waiting for authorization to return to India.
Meanwhile, fueled by war hysteria, the Indian authorities ordered farmers with the Punjab border districts to leave their fields within 48 hours.
According to information, the Indian border security force (BSF) has published loudspeakers in the villages of the Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Fazilka districts, asking farmers to harvest their cultures and immediately clean the fields. The BSF warned that after the deadline, all the doors installed along the border fence will be sealed.
On the other hand, life remains calm and ordered in the border districts of Pakistan, notably Lahore, Siackot, Narowal and Kasur. Courageous and resilient Pakistani farmers continue their daily routines without being discouraged.
