ATTARI, India: Dozens of Pakistani nationals living in India headed to the main land crossing between India and Pakistan on Wednesday, following New Delhi\u2019s decision to order almost all Pakistani citizens to leave the country after last week\u2019s deadly attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
\nThe deadline for Pakistani citizens to leave the country \u2013 with exceptions for those who are on medical visas in India \u2013 passed on Sunday, but many families were still scrambling to the Indian side of the border in Attari town in northern Punjab state to cross into Pakistan.
\nSome were arriving on their own and others were being deported by police.
\n\u201cWe have settled our families here. We request the government not to uproot our families,\u201d said Sara Khan, a Pakistani national who was ordered back to Pakistan without her husband, Aurangzeb Khan, who holds an Indian passport.
\nWaiting on the Indian side of the border crossing, Khan carried her 14-day-old child in her arms. She said Indian authorities did not give her any time to recuperate from a caesarean section and that her long-term visa was valid until July 2026.
\n\u201cThey (authorities) told me you are illegal and you should go,\u201d said Khan, who has been living in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 2017. \u201cThey gave us no time. I could not even change my shoes.\u201d
\nTensions between rivals India and Pakistan have escalated after gunmen killed 26 people, most of them Indian tourists, near the resort town of Pahalgam in disputed Kashmir.
\nAt least three tourists who survived the massacre said that the gunmen singled out Hindu men and shot them from close range. The dead included a Nepalese citizen and a local Muslim pony ride operator.
\nIndia has described the massacre as a \u201cterror attack\u201d and accused Pakistan of backing it. Pakistan has denied any connection to the attack, which was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance.
\nThe massacre set off tit-for-tat diplomatic measures between India and Pakistan that included cancelation of visas and a recall of diplomats. New Delhi also suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty with Islamabad and ordered its border shut with Pakistan. In response, Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian airlines.
\nAs tensions escalate, cross-border firings between Indian and Pakistani soldiers have also increased along the Line of Control, the de facto frontier that separates Kashmiri territory between the two rivals.
\nKashmir is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. New Delhi describes all militancy in Indian-controlled Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies this, and many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle.
\nMeanwhile, India\u2019s cabinet committee on security, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met on Wednesday. It was their second such meeting since the attack.
\nUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in separate phone calls with India and Pakistan, stressed the need to \u201cavoid a confrontation that could result in tragic consequences.\u201d The US State Department also called for de-escalation and said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be speaking soon to the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers.
\nThe two nations have frequently come to blows over Kashmir in the past, but last week\u2019s massacre has escalated tensions and Modi has repeatedly vowed to pursue and punish the attackers.
\nEarly Wednesday, Pakistan said it had \u201ccredible intelligence\u201d that India intends to carry out military action against it in the \u201cnext 24-36 hours on the pretext of baseless and concocted allegations of involvement in the Pahalgam incident.\u201d
\nThere was no immediate comment from Indian officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ATTARI, India: Dozens of Pakistani nationals living in India headed to the main land crossing between India and Pakistan on Wednesday, following New Delhi\u2019s decision to order almost all Pakistani citizens to leave the country after last week\u2019s deadly attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The deadline for Pakistani citizens to leave the country \u2013 with exceptions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-475577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n