New Delhi: The government revoked 14 categories of visas, including those of business, conference, visitor and pilgrim, given to Pakistani nationals following the terror attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir in which 26 people were killed, the Union Home Ministry said on Friday.
Following the Cabinet Committee on Security’s decision, 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.
After Shah’s telephonic conversations with the chief ministers, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan also held a video conference with the chief secretaries of all the states and asked them to ensure that all Pakistani nationals whose visas were revoked must leave India by the fixed deadline.
In a communication to all state governments, the home ministry said the order will not apply to Long Term Visas (LTVs) and diplomatic and official visas issued to Pakistani nationals.
According to the Home Ministry order, those holding SAARC visas must leave India by April 26 and those having visas on arrival, business, film, journalist, transit, conference, mountaineering, student, visitor, group tourist and pilgrim visas must leave India by April 27.
Those having group pilgrim visas given to minorities of Pakistan also must leave the country by April 27 and those having medical visas must leave by April 29.
The home ministry said no new visas will be issued to any Pakistani national.
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 decisive action against terrorism and terror camps, assuring the government of their full support.
Simultaneously, India also informed Pakistan of its decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in abeyance with immediate effect, saying the neighbouring country 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.
