NEW DELHI: (Apr 25) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday called up the chief ministers of all the states and asked them to ensure that no Pakistani stays in India beyond the deadline set for leaving the country, sources said.
India on Thursday announced revoking all visas issued to Pakistani nationals from April 27 and advised Indian nationals residing in Pakistan to return home at the earliest, as tensions between the two countries escalated over the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists, on Tuesday.
The home minister personally called up the chief ministers of all the states and asked them to ensure that no Pakistani stays in India beyond the deadline, sources said.
The chief ministers were also told to identify the Pakistani nationals staying in their respective areas and ensure their deportation, the sources said.
The revocation of visas does not apply to the long-term visas already issued to Hindu Pakistani nationals, which “remain valid”.
India announced suspending visa services to Pakistani nationals with immediate effect over the cross-border links to the Pahalgam attack, the worst terror strike targeting civilians in the country since the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
In addition, the government on Wednesday announced that Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC visa exemption scheme (SVES) and any Pakistani national currently in India under the SVES visa has 48 hours to leave the country. The deadline ends Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asserted that India will “identify, track, and punish” every terrorist and their “backers” involved in the Pahalgam carnage and pursue the killers to the “ends of the earth”, as India stepped up the diplomatic offensive against Pakistan.
Delivering a stern message in his first public speech after the Pahalgam attack at Madhubani in Bihar on Thursday, Modi vowed that terrorism will not go “unpunished” and that every effort will be made to ensure that justice is done, adding that India’s spirit will never be broken by terrorism.
At an all-party meeting held here on Thursday, leaders across party lines called for a decisive action against terrorism and terror camps, assuring the government of their full support.
Simultenously, India also informed Pakistan of its decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in abeyance with immediate effect, saying Pakistan has breached its conditions.
Sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan targeting Jammu and Kashmir impedes India’s rights under the Indus Waters Treaty, Water Resources Secretary Debashree Mukherjee said in a letter addressed to her Pakistani counterpart, Syed Ali Murtaza. PTI
