India’s order for Pakistanis to leave is resulting in painful family separations

Heartbreaking scenes played out at the India-Pakistan border this weekend as families were suddenly forced apart following India’s sweeping order for nearly all Pakistani nationals to leave the country, The New York Times reported Monday.

The directive, issued after a deadly terrorist attack in Kashmir that India blames on Pakistan, upended the lives of cross-border families.
As the expulsion deadline hit, desperate families gathered at the Attari-Wagah border in Punjab, hoping against hope for mercy.

Many had traveled for weddings, funerals, or long-overdue reunions. Now, with mass visa cancellations, only Pakistani passport holders could leave — splitting families without warning.

Among those affected, Takhat Singh was forced to return to Pakistan with his younger children, while his wife, an Indian citizen, was left behind. “How can you separate us like this?” Singh cried.

Vajida Khan, facing a similar fate, was barred from taking her Pakistani citizen children back home: “The government wouldn’t let me leave and wouldn’t let my kids stay.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan retaliated by canceling most Indian visas, further tightening the noose on already fragile ties between the two countries.

The deep scars of the 1947 partition — and the unresolved Kashmir conflict — loom large again, leaving families stranded by political divisions far beyond their control.