114 Indians, 82 Pakistanis set to return their respective countries via Wagah tomorrow

As many as 114 Indians and 82 Pakistani nationals, who have been stranded in Pakistan and India, respectively, will return to their native countries via the Attari-Wagah border, 32 km from here, on Thursday.

On July 2, Pakistan’s interior ministry wrote to the director general (DG) of Pakistan Rangers informing him about the repatriation of 114 stranded Indians on July 9. On July 6, India’s ministry of external affairs facilitated the movement of 82 Pakistani nationals through Wagah border on July 9 on the request of the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi.

The 144 Indian nationals are a part of a group of 748 stranded Indians in Pakistan that was allowed to return in three batches last month. However, of the total 748 people, only 634 could return in the three batches.

Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM-2) Shiv Raj Singh Bal said, “Of the 114 Indians, 35 are from Jammu and Kashmir, while the rest are from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat.”

Besides students from J&K, the returnees include those who had gone to the neighbouring country to meet their relatives or pay obeisance at religious shrines.

SOCIAL DISTANCING TO BE MAINTAINED

Earlier, India had facilitated the movement of more than 500 Pakistani nationals through the land border. A Land Port Authority of India (LPAI) official at the integrated check post (ICP) in Attari, which facilitates India’s trade with Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the movement of passengers from India to Pakistan and vice-versa, said, “A special team of doctors will conduct thermal screening of all those going back to Pakistan, and returning to India, as per guidelines of the health department to contain the spread of coronavirus. Special arrangements have been made to follow the social distancing norms.

On March 14, India had suspended cross-border movement of passengers through the Attari-Wagah border as a precautionary measure to check the spread of Covid-19. But diplomats, officials of the United Nations (UN) and other international organisations, and employment and project visa-holders were excluded from the ban. On March 19, Pakistan too closed its borders. Since then, hundreds of Pakistani nationals have been stranded in India and Indians in Pakistan