KARWAR: Fourteen people of Pakistani origin, including 10 women and four children, who are settled in Bhatkal for the last several years, face an uncertain future after the Union government set a 48-hour deadline for all Pakistani nationals to return and revoked all visas.
After the Cabinet Committee on Security met on Thursday, following Tuesday’s Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, India decided to suspend visa services for Pakistani nationals, effective immediately.
The Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement, “In continuation of the decisions made by the Cabinet Committee on Security in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, the Government of India has decided to suspend visa services to Pakistani nationals with immediate effect”.
“All existing valid visas issued by India to Pakistani nationals stand revoked with effect from April 27, 2025. Medical visas issued to Pakistani nationals will be valid only till April 29, 2025”, the statement added. Further, the MEA noted that all Pakistani nationals currently in India must leave India before the expiry of their visas, as now amended.
On Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked the chief ministers of all states to identify Pakistani nationals in asking them to identify all Pakistan nationals in their respective states and take steps to ensure their prompt return to Pakistan. While the long-term visas issued to Hindus from Pakistan, the others will be revoked.
Since pre-indepence days, Bhatkal has a tradition of marrying off women to Pakistani grooms and bringing brides from that country. The women living in Bhatkal are issued two-year long-term visas which they have to renew periodically. They have also applied for Indian citizenship, but it has not been granted.
A few years ago, a Bangladeshi woman had crossed the border illegally and had got married to a man from Bhatkal. She is now in jail and fighting a legal battle. It is believed that there are more Pakistani women in Bhatkal other than the 14 and Karwar Police Superintendent M Narayan is camping in Bhatkal to collect more information about the Pakistani nationals living there.
