Families torn apart as India orders Pakistanis to leave

Emotional scenes unfolded at the India-Pakistan border this weekend as families were abruptly separated following India’s directive for nearly all Pakistani citizens to leave the country, The New York Times reported on Monday.

The order, issued in response to a recent terrorist attack in Kashmir that India has attributed to Pakistan, has upended the lives of families with ties across the border.

As the expulsion deadline expired, families rushed to the Attari-Wagah border crossing in Punjab, hoping for a reprieve, The New York Times reported.

Many had arrived in India for weddings, funerals, or long-awaited reunions. Now, with most visas canceled, only those holding Pakistani passports were allowed to cross, leaving others behind.

According to the report, among them was Takhat Singh’s family, who traveled from Pakistan to Rajasthan for his daughter’s wedding.

When the order came, Singh had to leave India with his younger children, while his wife, an Indian passport holder, was barred from exiting with them.

According to NYT, “How can you separate us like this?” Singh asked. “Who should we talk to about our misery?”

Similar stories of separation and confusion echoed at the border. Vajida Khan, an Indian passport holder, was not permitted to return to Pakistan with her two young children, both Pakistani citizens.

“The government wouldn’t let me go and wouldn’t allow my kids to stay,” she said.

Pakistan has responded by canceling most Indian visas, further complicating cross-border relationships, many of which were already strained by decades of geopolitical tensions.

The 1947 partition, which created Pakistan as a separate Muslim-majority state, left countless families divided by a border now heavily restricted and politically fraught.

Even those who had waited years to obtain Indian visas were caught off guard.

Rabika Begum had finally received permission to visit her mother’s funeral after five years of trying. “I could not even get a fair chance to cry at her grave,” she said.

The impact has also reached Hindu refugees from Pakistan, some of whom now face uncertainty despite having settled in India for years.

Hanuman Prasad, a refugee in Delhi, expressed concern about his family’s future, fearing detention or forced deportation. “Even a bird hesitates before leaving its nest behind,” he said.

The situation reflects a deeper, unresolved legacy of partition and ongoing conflict over Kashmir.

With diplomatic ties near collapse and movement across the border becoming nearly impossible, families like the Singhs, the Khans, and many others find themselves at the mercy of political decisions beyond their control.