Amritsar: Pakistan has finally opened the Attari gate to let in its citizens stranded along the border after being ordered to leave India. Pakistan had kept the gate open till April 30. However, Pakistani nationals who reached there on Thursday found the gate locked.
Pakistanis have been asked to leave India after the terror attack at Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22 that left 26 persons, most of them tourists dead. India believes that there is Pakistani involvement in the attack.
On Wednesday, 125 Pakistani nationals had crossed the border while 15 Indian citizens had entered India.
On Thursday, only some trucks from Afghanistan were allowed to enter India through Attari. Pakistan said that the trucks were being allowed due to its brotherhood with Afghanistan.
Those deported from India had a trying time though. Some, like the elderly sisters Saeeda Sagir Fatima and Saeeda Jameer Fatima, were probably praying that the gates never open. Born in Lahore, they entered India nearly 40 years ago and settled down in Srinagar.
They never thought they would be asked to leave the country. According to Saeeda Sagir, they have no relatives in Pakistan that they know of.
As they finally crossed the border on Friday, they stepped into an unsure future. Both looked back a number of times, hoping against hope to be called back. Among those who entered Pakistan were two other sisters who are married to Pakistanis in Karachi.
A number of Hindu labourers from Pakistan also left India. They had come to Rajasthan to work. Most of them were not sure why they were being sent away.
“We are Hindus. We face a lot of trouble in Pakistan because of our religion. When we got work in India, we thought of spending some time in peace. We entered the country with proper work visas. Now, we are being forced to leave for no fault of ours,” one of them said.
The stranded Pakistanis were taken care of for the last 48 hours by local porters and volunteers of the local Gurudwara who set up a langar.
