Indian citizens from Gujarat who travelled to the Attari-Wagah border in Punjab's Amritsar on Thursday, April 24, to enter Pakistan were denied entry. The person named Hussain, along with him, held a valid visa for three months to the neighbouring country. He intended to visit his sick relative in Karachi. Two days after the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam that killed 26 people, mostly tourists from different parts of the country, India's fallout from its diplomatic and strategic stance against Pakistan. After the Indian government announced that Pakistani nationals should exit India within the next 48 hours.
Several Pakistani citizens reached the Attari-Wagah border to return to their country after India suspended the SAARC visa exemption scheme (SVES), asking Pakistani citizens in India under the SVES visa to leave the country within 48 hours. The decision was taken at the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting chaired by PM Modi in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.
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Mansoor, a Pakistani national leaving India via the border, said, "I am from Karachi and had come to India for 20-25 days to meet relatives in Delhi. Whatever happened should not have happened (in Pahalgam). However, the government should not have done this (suspend SAARC visa exemption scheme)."
Another Pakistani national said that they came to attend an event with a 45-day visa. He said closing the border is a wrong move. "There should be brotherhood between the two nations. But whatever is happening is wrong."
On Wednesday evening a day after the attack, the Ministry of External Affairs announced several restrictions against Pakistan including breaking diplomacy ties. This include the immediate closing of the Attari-Wagah border and the suspension of the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme for Pakistani nationals. Authorities have also directed that all Pakistani nationals with valid travel documents who entered India recently must return to Pakistan by May 1, 2025.