Barmer: After waiting for nearly two years, two young brides from Pakistan reunited with their Indian husbands in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer earlier this month. However, their hopes of starting a family were shattered when India announced on Thursday the revocation of all visas issued to Pakistani nationals, effective from April 27, following the Pahalgam terror attack on Tuesday.
Cousins Saleh Mohammad (26) and Mushtaq Ali (27), from Devikot village in Jaisalmer, had travelled to Ghotki district in Sindh province in July 2023 to visit their relatives, where they met Karam Khatoon (21) and Sachul (22).
The couples tied the knot in August 2023 in Ghotki, but the brides could not travel to India with their husbands due to visa complications. The grooms returned to India in September 2023, once their visas expired.
After trying for a year and a half, the Indian government granted visas to the brides, and the families finally reunited on April 13.
The families were busy celebrating the reunion with rituals when the visas issued to Pakistani nationals were revoked as part of punitive diplomatic measures over cross-border linkages to the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.
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The ministry of home affairs also issued a second order on the revocation of visas on Friday, stating that only two of the 16 categories of visas issued to Pakistani nationals—Long Term Visas (LTVs) and Diplomatic and Official Visas—will remain valid. The rest will be revoked with effect from April 27. Pakistani nationals in India on medical visas will be granted two more days, having to leave by April 29.
“How can we send them away now? If they leave, the doors will be closed forever, and our families will be destroyed. We request the Indian government to allow us to live together peacefully,” said Haji Abdullah, the father-in-law of one of the brides.
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Abdullah said that the families had applied for Long Term Visas (LTVs) for both brides soon after their arrival. However, following the government’s new directive, local police authorities have been pressuring the families to send the brides back to Pakistan.
“We waited for two years to be together. Now, just after a few days, we are being told to go back. Where would we go? Who is there for us in Pakistan? We would rather die than leave our husbands,” said one of the brides.