India orders Pakistani nationals without long-term visas to leave by April 27

Union Home Minister Amit Shah visits the injured of the Pahalgam terror attack, admitted to the Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital and assured them of every possible assistance, in Anantnag on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit:
ANI

New Delhi, April 25: Union Home Ministry has issued an official memorandum asking Pakistani businessmen, journalists, artists, and students who do not have long-term visas to go back to their native country before the deadline ending free travel by April 27 passes, government sources said.

Besides the memorandum, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday called chief ministers of all the states to enforce the government’s decision to repatriate Pakistanis, staying in India on visas, to their homes before April 27, sources said.

Shah’s move comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the Cabinet Committee on Security Affairs and decided to downgrade relations with Pakistan and expel a sizable number of their diplomats and nationals who have come here on valid visas.

However, Pakistanis here on medical visas have been told to return by April 29. 

Only those Pakistanis who have long-term visas, or diplomatic or official visas, can stay longer than the present deadline enforced as a deterrence against PPakistan’suse of terror as a proxy war.

The Ministry of Home Affairs in its office memorandum of April 24, accessed by businessline,  specified revocation of SAARC visa for Pakistani nationals, using powers under Section 3(1) of the Foreigners Act, 1946.

“All existing valid visas, except medical visas, long-term visas, diplomatic & official visas, issued by the government to Pakistani nationals stands revoked with immediate effect from April 27 2025,” the MHA memorandum stated.

This includes visas granted to journalists, cine artists, businessmen, students, and tourists for transit, mountaineering, conferences, and pilgrimage, as per the MHA memorandum.

The Ministry of External Affairs, however, had announced this decision on Thursday.

Shah told the CMs to identify Pakistanis living in their states and deport them.

Responding to the Union Home Minister’s call, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said that he has instructed the state to identify and send back Pakistanis residing in the country. 

“Terrorists attacked unmanned citizens and tourists in Pahalgam, resulting in the loss of 26 lives. Such acts deserve the strongest condemnation, and the Indian government is taking action against Pakistanis for this. It has been ordered to cancel the visas of all Pakistani nationals in India.”

Meanwhile, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi arrived in Kashmir on Friday to review the situation in the wake of the Pahalgam attack, a day after opposition parties raised questions marks over security lapses during the all-party meeting the previous evening.

General Dwivedi separately joined a meeting Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha took, in which the Army Commander of Northern Command was also present. Sinha told the top brass of the Army that every perpetrator and supporter of the Pahalgam terror attack, whatever his location or affiliation, must be hunted, and they must pay the heavy price.

Pakistan resorted to small arm firing at some places on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, which was effectively responded to, Indian Army sources said.

Shah also convened a meeting on Friday to discuss the future course of action on the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 with Pakistan, which has been kept in abeyance, sources said.

IIndia’sWater Resources Secretary Debashree Mukherjee said in a letter addressed to her Pakistani counterpart, Syed Ali Murtaza, that sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan targeting Jammu and Kashmir impedes IIndia’srights under the Indus Waters Treaty.

“The obligation to honour a treaty in good faith is fundamental to a treaty. However, what we have seen instead is sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan targeting the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” the letter read.

More Like This

Published on April 25, 2025